Fooly Cooly Warriors
by Ryagful
Summary: Two years after she left, he decided to take fate into his own hands. Doing so leads him to an adventure which will change his life and shake the power balance of a centuries long war.
1. The Long Awaited Promiss Day

**Chapter one. The Long Awaited Promiss Day.**

"Nothing amazing happens here. Everything is ordinary."

The late morning sun shined brilliantly over the city of Mabasa through the parting clouds of last night's rain, catching the eye of a certain 14 years old "delinquent" . Naota Nandaba was calmly strolling down the street with an apathetic look on his face, a Rickenbacker bass strapped on his back, school jacket unbuttoned flaying slightly in the morning breeze. School was, technically, where he was supposed to be currently, but he never gave much tough to it, ever. especially not for since *she* crashed (in a quite literal and deliberate manner, he would like to add) and then disappeared just as sudden and as crazy as he learned she was. Haruko Haruhara, the crazy, random, awesome (evil to, now that he thought about it) alien that looked conspicuously indistinguishable from a human. Or were humans indistinguishable from her species? huh...

Anyways, the story started about two years ago as he was hanging out under a bridge with his elder brother's (ex)girlfriend, Mamimi Samejima. Another boring day in Japan's most boring town...at least it was, until the crazy evil alien and "Space Police officer" ran him over with her Vespa and proceeded to bunk him over the head with a bass. Things got weird after that. Giant robots and guitars sprouting from his forehead, cat ears, godlike alien nearly destroying the world, that idiotic noir eyebrows guy with the Department of Interstellar Immigration, Eri hitting on him in his room...ok, he was pretty sure that last part didn't have anything to do with Haruko, or at least he seriously hopped it didn't...

In any case, after the whole "Atomsk nearly blew up Earth" thing and the battle with Haruko and that kiss, she left in his wake with Atomsk's guitar and his fused into one, leaving him with her own Rickenbacker (and Canti) as the only memoirs to her stay. And if he didn't knew any better from her indifference and almost sadistic glee at the prospect of the Earth being destroyed, he would think she left it to help him, due to the simple fact that it's probably the only reason he was still alive.

A few weaks after she left, his head started to hurt. Small at first, just a mild headache, but in just a few days it went up to a brain splitting torture. He could barley sleep or concentrate at school, so he started to skip more and more. He went to one or two doctors but none could tell him what was wrong. A couple of months later as he was sitting in his room alone with his misery, his eyes fell to the corner of the room where, under dust and some spider web, lay Haruko's Rickenbacker, the same place he put it the day he got it. A strange feeling started to crawl into his mine to get a hold of the strange but familiar alien instrument. A few seconds later he started down at it in his hands in bewilderment as his throbbing pain simply vanished. Just like that. Puzzled, he started to brainstorm as to the cause. His first guess was that the bass acted in some fashion on his N.O, the strange power Haruko toll him he was capable of access.

There was nothing on this N.O he could find on the internet besides a few wacky conspiracy sites which included, among other things (many, many other things), Flat Earth, Jews Din 9/11 and that Kennedy was still alive and was in fact a reptilian and the whole assassination thing was staged to allow him to return to his homeworld of Sirius Major. Deciding to go to a more credible source, the only thing he could think of was Canti. The robot, despite his still damaged head, was nonetheless able to explain to him the basics of N.O. and together with his admittedly hard to translate instructions, he was able to harness the basics of his N.O so that in a few weaks he no longer needed to hold unto the bass at all time just to be able to sleep.

As the weaks passed, he began to notice that by concentrating really hard wile opening the N.O channel, he was able to improve almost anything he did; running faster, jumping higher, hitting harder, the likes. So he started thinking just how far he could go with it. Turns out, not so far as he liked to imagine, but then he remembered something interesting.

The day Haruko extracted a Gibson Flying V out of his channel, the one he used to save Mabase from a falling satellite, the one that Haruko currently was in possession of. The one fused with Atomsk's into that monster dual guitar.

His guitar.

His instrument.

Perhaps, he reached the conclusion, since he wasn't using his own instrument, he was not reaching his full potential. Haruko did mention Atomsk had an incredible amount of power from his N.O, enough to distort gravity, destroy planets and move entire solar systems, if Haruko' and Amaro were to be believed. And, looking back, he was somehow able to absorb and use its power. He wasn't a very egotistical person, but going by what he knew, that was pretty hardcore.

And so he made a decision.

Now, over two years since that fateful day day, he was ready. Two years of training like a madman with Canti or by himself, he was ready. He had a plan.

He stopped not far from its edge. Looking ahead, he could barley see the road leading up to the old Medical Mechanica plant, still tilted a bit from when Atomsk dropped it in his dramatic getaway.

This was it.

Taking a deep breath, he began to think his plan over again. It was a plausible idea, based on what he knew of N.O, but some part of him, he reckoned his sane part, or whatever was left of it, told him this was insane. Crazy. Suicidal. Still, it would be better than anything else he had in mind, and if it worked he had something to look forward to over the monotonous life which had engulfed the city one again with Haruko's departure.

His thoughts went over what he would lose if this went to hell. His dad, Kamon, still his lazy, immature, perverted self, still trying to sell his crappy tabloid for a few bucks. His grandfather, Shigekuni, retired baker and present baseball coach, still disappointing in his son and younger grandson.

He didn't see Amaro after that day, though he did occasionally spot a not so conspicuous black car parked down the street or following him somewhere.

Miss Junko Miyaji, who somehow ended up teaching in high school despite barley having the intellectual (and mental) ability to teach in kindergartner.

Masashi, looking depressed as always (and it says something when *he* thinks that), Gaku, still obsessing over gossip and everything related to sex.

And finally Eri Ninamori, the class rep and mayor's only child.

While he was not in the least bit surprise at how most of his friends and other acquaintances were generally still the same after two years, Eri had, at least, grown up somewhat. She still wore that proper, a little stuck-up demeanor, she was more open about herself and generally didn't behave in as much the same fashion as she did before their six grade Puss in Boots play. All in all, she was still fairly mature, but not in the same forced way she used to be.

Smirking, he turned his head slightly to his left. Speak of the devil. Another ability he managed to get a hang of was enhancing his senses beyond what was normally capable for a human. Besides augmenting his hearing or eyesight, it woke a kind of sixth sense in him and he was capable of picking up and distinguishing between people's presence even when his senses didn't actually picked up anything, and sure enough, the unmistakable presences of Eri cut around a corner behind him moving slowly towards him.

"Aha! Found you!" she shouted a little bit to exited, in his humble opinion. "Skipping school again?" she added with an exasperated tone.

He turned his body just slightly, not fully facing her. She had her hands on her hips and was now looking at him waiting for the usual answer to their banter. For a second as their eyes locked, he vaguely remembered how she used to be taller. Now he was 2 inch taller than her. He smirked a little at that.

"So what of it?" he answered back, knowing full well that kind of answer would piss her off. He always did find her fun to piss off. His smirk grew a bit larger when she toke a deep breath and with a sigh pinched the bridge of her nose with one hand. Ok, not the usual answer. His smile dropped, instead raising an eyebrow. _Ooookay, weird_ he tough.

"Naota..." she bad, with a tone of voice he rarely (if ever) heard her use, usually reserved to times when she was really worried about something. "You'll going to fail high school, and then what are you going to do? The school board is already talking about expelling you..."

He could have swore he heard a genuine concern for him in her voice... _nah, must be my imagination..._.

"So?" he shot back in a bored tone.

She let her hand fell back to the side and locked eyes with him. Ok, by the look in her eyes, it wasn't his imagination. Huh...

For the last two years, Eri hand him grew closer, enough that some might say they were best friends. Occasionally they would hang out, drawing insufferable teasing from their classmates, especially from Masashi and Gaku (especially Gaku) of them going out on a date...not that they were dating! No, it was just two friends who tough alike about those around them and who, despite their different approaches to life with Naota's bored "this is all pointless" philosophy and Eri's responsible student getup, understood and went along quite well. So what if he tough she a was kinda cute?

"And what exactly are you doing going towards that damn plant?" she asked a few moments of silence, and a small head shake, later.

Now he was a bit conflicted. He didn't actually plan for anyone he knew showing up. So, he did the only thing he could think of: ignore her. With a shrug of his shoulders, he turned back towards his destination, the broken down but mostly intact Medical Mecanica plant, and started walking. As expected, Eri was walking right besides him in just a few seconds.

Now, tough, she really was pissed, because she was skulking. And giving a lecture. Loudly.

"You, Naota Nandaba, are the worse student ever, and an IDIOT, and..."

He, however, wasn't listening, but the smirk made its way back to his face again.

For most of her life, Eri Ninamori had to put up with the upper, proper classes of society, her dad being the mayor for three consecutive mandates now, and so she learned to keep her emotions in check. For the most part she succeeded, but occasionally when really angry at something, usually a bullshit new law at school, her mom and dad being stupid and fighting again, or lately at Naota, she would lose it. And she was a sight to behold.

More than a few horrible laws on school property was repealed simply because she gave the school board a piece of her mind. She was the class rep for a reason. Speaking of which...

"Shouldn't the class rep be in, you now, class?" he interrupted her. Realizing she was rambling, she composed herself with a small cough.

"As class representative, it is my responsibility to keep idiots like you out of trouble" she recited, as if that line was written down for a speech. For all he knew of her, it probably was. "I can't have my friend being a dropout. It would look bad for my reputation." she continued with a smug tone.

"I'm a delinquent." he shot back. "Maybe you should make new friends."

"Maybe i don't feel like it" she said, voice flat.

"Maybe you should" he answered back in the same tone.

They walked in silence towards the road leading up to the plant. Before they could cross the street to where it started, she quickly shot out in front, stopping him in his track with a look of pure determination which has subdued more than one adult in her life. Most normal people would be slightly nervous if the 14 year old girl would give them that kind of look. He didn't even flinch.

"Where are you going?" she asked again with much more fervor and worry. This really made him stop and think. Should he tell her? He probably wouldn't believe him, or would and run off to tell someone. But if she didn't get an answer, she would stick with him and get in the way. Biting his check in tough, he reached a conclusion. A half lie might get her out of dodge, and he did want to see her reaction when he was at full potential.

"Do you really want to know?" he asked, hopping for the best.

"Yes" she answered back immediately and with a determination which made him relent.

"Ok then." with a nod, he grabbed the bass and spun it around his back into his arms, holding it as if to play "Recognize this?" he asked with a smirk. The way her eyes narrowed a bit and posture stiffened told him the answer before she opened her mouth.

"The bass that belonged to that...maid of yours. She answered a bit hesitantly, stretching the "maid" part a little. "What, are you going up there to play a song to the guards? Can you even play that thing?" she asked the last part with a bemused smirk.

"No, im not, and, as a matter of fact..."he shot back with a "I resent that" tone of voice, and plucked a small melody on the cords. "yes, i can." now it was his turn to wear the smirk as her eyes widen a bit. He hadn't shown anyone except his dad and Canti that he started to also learn how to play the thing.

Quickly regaining her composer the second time today, she crossed her arms and looked at him with narrow eyes. "So? What in the blazes would you want to do up there then?"

"Well..." he started. Now or never. This isn't mine. It's her's. Haruko's. Or Raharu, whatever. She ran off with mine. And I'm gonna get it back." he finished in a low voice.

"What." was the only thing Eri could mutter. For a few seconds there she tough she misheard. As the words settled in, she threw he arms wide and shouted "ARE YOU CRAZY!? Don't you remember what happened last time you hanged out with her?"

At that, Naota raised an eyebrow. "From the way people act around town, i was under the impression i was the only one who did." he answered back flatly.

"Of course not!" she shot back crossing her arms. "People remember, but they just don't obsess over it. They didn't let that whole thing hold them down."

"It's not holding me down." he said, voice still flat. "I'm in fact trying to move forward. I can't, not with this" he held the bass tighter for emphasis "still reminding me. And i can't just throw it away."

With a sigh, he closed his eyes and continued "No, I'm returning this one and getting what's mine back."

Eri just looked at him with a frown. She hadn't seen him this confident and sincere in...ever. She sighed. "This is the part where I'm supposed to get out of the way and get to school?"

Naota opened his eyes to lock sight with her. "If you don't mind." He expected her to just stop away or maybe even south and hit him.

He did not, however, expect her to lean forward and kiss him. That certainly shocked him enough for his heart to stop for the few seconds it lasted. Before his brain could even properly comprehend it, she broke of and, blushing even redder than he was, just said "You better get back, or i won't forgive you." and she was off in a sprint down the street leading to the high school. Before she was out of sight, he drew all of his will to break free of the shock and shout after her.

"HEY!"

She stopped in her track about 20 meters away and just turned her body a little, like he did when she intercepted him earlier, still blushing and not looking at him.

"What?" she asked a bit launder than she intended.

Now he was at a loss of words, so he said the first thing that came to mind.

"See you in class tomorrow?" ok, he tough, probably not the best thing to say in this situation, but come on!

"Yeah. You better! Or else you'll gonna get expelled! " and with that she was off. Naota watched her disappear around a corner. Now as he turned and walked to his destination, he couldn't help but notice a stupid grin locked on his face, that didn't go away even as he was halfway up the hill.

However, it quickly dropped as he came into view of the only gate in the fence the Department of Interstellar Immigration build around the plant. Three armed guards obviously saw him. This was it.

"Hey there" he shouted smugly. He could tell by their aura that they were tense. _Heh, Amaro must've told them about me. Well, i would to after the show I put that day._

"That's far enough kid. This area is off limits. Turn around and leave!" one of the two soldiers who was pointing their rifles at his ordered. The third one was inside a booth and was holding a radio.

Stopping in his tracks with one hand in his pants pocket and one hand gripping the bass strapped to his back, he calmly looked the three men over.

"I don't suppose you'll simply let me in?" he sharked at the man.

"You have 10 seconds!" was his only response. The hard way it is then.

Before the soldier could even blink, Naota was already in front of the man, fist swinging into his stomach, its strength enhanced by his N.O channel enough to send him flying a few feet away. Before he even hit the ground, he swings the bass into the second man's side, sending his to fly as well. Both hit the ground hard a moment later, a few milliseconds apart, guns clanking on the ground. The man in the boot was trying to turn the radio on, but he was on him fast and with a fist straight to the face, he to was knocked unconscious. Perfect.

Except that little blinking light on the radio telling him the man activated some emergency message and he would have a lot more company soon.

Groaning, he pushed of the ground, using the N.O to jump over the gate, some 3 meters. As he landed and fell into a stance, two more figures were running towards him. To bad for them as, from the sky, profiting from the distraction, fell Canti, having been following Naota from a distance per his request.

Slamming hard on the ground in front of the two guards, he made a shock-wave which knocked both back and joining their other comrades into unconsciousness.

" That was a bit unnecessary." Naota piped to the robot. "I would have dealt with them easily."

Canti only scratched the back of his head, the word "Sorry" flashing on his screen.

Naota shock his head slightly with a smirk. Then he closed his eyes and concentrated hard. Sure enough he detected the sound of a few cars speeding towards the road leading to the plant.

" Were out of time, Canti." he said moving towards the plant. "Now or never." he stopped in front of the massive form of the strange alien object waited for Canti to fall in line next to him a second later. "Ready?" flashed on Canti's screen.

Taking another deep breath, Naota only nodded. Now was the time. They both stretched their hands forward and touched the wall of the plant, concentrating. A moment later, it clicked in his head. The unmistakable presences of what he could only relate to Haruko and a strange feeling over toke his senses as the plant came to life for the first time in years.

Now he knew what Amaro was rambling about years ago about the plant. As it hummed with a low sound and then the spine chilling siren sounded for the whole city to hear and a massive cloud of steam spewed from its side, Naota could feel all the N.O, all the auras in the area, go dark, oppressed by the massive presence of the plant. But the one presences he was after was still strong enough to follow.

With a wide grin he let go of the plant and turned to Canti, who did the same and only nodded to his human friend. Dropping the smile, Naota nodded in return and toke the bass in both hands and swing it hard against Canti's head, who flew back and hit the ground with a thud. Then sudently his screen flashed red and the place was illuminated by a crimson light emanating from within it. The plant went silent again, and he could tell the cars were now just seconds from the gate.

He lunged forward and touched Canti's screen and his whole hand went it. The channel was open, and the rest of his body was pulled in.

Vilonis

Thousands of light years away, Haruko (known by many other aliases) leaned back on her Vespa eating a bowl of space ramen. It wasn't quite as good as that Earth ramen, she tough, but definitely better than that Aurora crap. That think held the dishonor of "worst tasting quick meal in the galaxy. That wasn't just her opinion, either. There was a pole...Ok, a pole she had a hand in rigging, but no one else needed to know that!

Drowning the last of the content, she nonchalantly threw it to the side. Littering be damned. She had better things to do. Like tormenting some poor kid. That was always hilarious. Oh, and tracking Atomsk. That to, though the train was running cold these days. She spared a glance to her bracelet/handcuff. Nothing. Le Sigh.

Another two years (Earth years, you should know) and still nothing. For a being capable of and routinely moving entire solar systems just for a quick laugh at the expense of travelers and astronomers, Atomsk sure knew how to lose someone. You would think someone like that would leave a considerable trail, but nope. And he was nowhere near this place, or the bracelet would detect his presences...speaking of which, a strange but strangely familiar presences was building at the back of her brain. /Nah, it couldn't be.../ That tough was however interrupted when her N.O channel sudently started to open. /Ok, who's the jerk trying that? Its impolite, especially to a lady!/

With a jerk of her head and a flash of red light, a form flew out of her forehead and landed on its knees, one hand gripping a familiar bass and the other spread forward for balance. /No way.../ she thought in surprise at the figure. "Takkuu!?"  
Naota Nandaba fell like vomiting. That was *not* a pleasant experience. His body felt like it was twisted in ways it was never meant to. But in a flash it was over and he was kneeling on a cold, grey floor and no longer nauseous. He looked up to see a familiar blue sky stroked by white clouds and...two moons hanging in the distance, a vast city stretching over the horizon, building mile high. Definitely worked. Question was, did it worked like he wanted and hoped to?

His question was answered immediately by a familiar high pitched voice from behind him. "Takkun!?"

He stood up quickly and jerked his whole body around. There she was, still the same he remembered from two years ago, only this time she had a look of bewilderment on her face.

"Haruko." he answered coolly (har har), not giving her any indication that he missed her. In fact, on his journey up the hill to the MM plant, as he was thinking of the kiss with Eri, he decided that Haruko no longer had any place in his hearth. No, he needed only one thing from her now.

Haruko stood up to her full height (a whole 10 inches taller than him) and eyed him with a curious and surprised face. "What. she muttered.

"Good to see you to." he sharked. "You remember me, at least." he said motioning his had to nothing in particular. Then his eyes fell onto the back of the Vesta, where a large, two necked monster guitar stood.

Finally regaining her composure, Haruko grabbed the guitar cautiously, as if sensing his eyes on it, and not liking it in the slightest.

"WHAT.." she began loudly "are you doing here?" she finished lowering her voice and holding the guitar into a light stance.

"Weeel..." he began, scratching the back of his neck. "Funny story. After you left, this...awful headache toke over. Thought i was gonna die..." he stopped emphasized the bass "but then this thing and Canti helped me get better. And i think you have an idea what im doing here..." he trailed his eyes over her guitar.

"You want yours back, huh?" she finished with a bemused smirk. /This day just got a whole lot more interesting./

"Don't suppose you would give it to me out of the goodness of your hearth? You do owe me..."

At this, Haruko let out a small laugh. "Kid..." she began and threw the guitar over her shoulder "I could have left you with no instrument at all. You'd have been in a coma withing two or three months. I don't see how i owe you anything else." she finished, a frown beginning to form.

A much deeper frown however was taking over Naota's face.

"And if you hadn't shown up in my life, nothing would have happened at all." he replied, voice taking a bit of a venomous tone. At this, Haruko shot up her eyebrows. Then her face warped into a bemused and smug look, a smirk showing some teeth.

"Also..." he continued "since I'm not getting any further with your instrument, I figure you would have trouble with using mine as well. So, why not take back yours and give back mine?"

A mad laughter emanated from Haruko, lasting a few seconds. /Yup/ he thought, waiting for her to finish /still the same crazy alien/.

A few seconds later, she stopped and locked eyes with him, a cold look in her gaze, smirk still plastered on her face.

"Well, look who's learning" she teased. "That's not such a bad idea...but..." she looked to the side and closed her eyes, then shot them open with a psychotic, murderous look and said "I'm not gonna make it easy for you." with a voice that sent shivers down his spine.

She fell into a battle stance and waited for him to follow. He did a few seconds later.

"Come on, why do you want to fight?" he asked, his voice showing he was intimidating by her gaze, no matter how much he tried to hide it, so he didn't made much of an effort.

"Where's the fun in just giving it to you?" she shot back casually. "Plus..." she added, smugness dripping in her voice "its still fused with Atomsk's guitar. You want it...ya gonna have ta figure out some way ta separate them!"

And with that, she lunged towards him, guitar flying out to the side at speeds that would be missed by a regular human eye. Thankfully, he was just fast enough to pull back his body as it flew just inches from his face, surprising Haruko for a few seconds. He toke advantage of her surprise and swingd the bass the same way she did, but her instincts didn't let it touch as she ducked and swingd her guitar again, upwards to his head, before his own even finished, almost catching him before he performed what he liked to call a flash step, using his N.O channel to pull his entire body several 30 feet backwards in an instant.

Regaining her balance from the attack, Haruko just eyed the spot he was not a moment ago with a puzzled look, then turned up to him with a smirk.

"Not bad, kid." she fell back into a stance, mirroring his. "Let's see if you can scratch me!" and with that shriek she dashed forward swung the guitar down hard. As he jumped straight up in a flash step, the guitar made contact with the paved ground and a small crater blew out from the impact. From his position up high, he brought down the bass hard aiding gravity with his N.O, aiming for her unguarded back, but she spun around fast and defended with the guitar, making contact with his instrument with enough force to send him flying backwards.

He spun in the air as he flew to land on his legs, and landed hard with one hand out for balance, letting out a gasp of air he didn't realize he was holding. Before he could get his bearings though, she was on him with a heavy swing that caught him off guard in the shoulder, which sent him falling to the side in pain. Haruko then swung the guitar downwards to where he was, but he rolled out of the way in time sprung to his feet as fast as he could, bringing the bass forward to block another attack in time. The two instruments made contact and sparks flew in the air, the force of her attack again overwhelming his balance and sending him backwards.

Not loosing another second, Haruko was on him in a beat, swinging left and right as he tried to dodge them. This continued for a few seconds before he flash stepped upwards and with a hard swing managed get her in the shoulder, which threw her forward as he landed. She quickly spun to her feet and faced him, face showing more annoyance than pain.

"Not bad" she said as she rubbed her shoulder absentmindedly, a smirk of her face. "And i wasn't exactly holding back. But let's see how long can you last..." she commented as she eyed him breathing heavily. "Takkun."

At that, he felt like losing it. With a heavy frown, he mustered all his N.O force, he dashed forward and swung heavily towards her.

"My name is Naota!" he screamed as the she blocked the attack. The two instruments made contact with enough force to create a small shockwave that sent them both flying backwards, landing a good 50 feet away from the impact point, where there was now an indentation in the floor. Haruko was the first to get up on her feet, eyeing the crater with an impressed smirk.

Naota moaned as he tried to get to his feet and gazed over to the alien, specifically the double instrument in her hand. For a split second as the two made contact in that violent exchange, a weird feeling invaded his brain. A...aura. A massive aura that he didn't even notice before. One that he recognized as Atomsk, but also not. Thinking back, he remembered that he fused his and Atomsk's instrument into one with...an idea clicked in his mind. It was an N.O channel which fused them, so another one would be needed to separate them. Only question was how...he needed to hold it.

Thinking of a way, he decided he would need to improvise. He dashed to attack Haruko once again, but she was ready and waiting for him to make the next move. They both swung the two weapons left and right at a fast pace. Sparks and shockwaves, smaller that the last one, flew as they made contact. He was doing good, he thought, but was getting tired. She wasn't.

"HA HA HA HA! He He!" The mad laughter of Haruko echoed over the loud bangs.

Deciding to do some of that improvising, he came with a crazy idea. Well, it couldn't be crazier than coming here in the first place.

He threw his guard down enough for one of her swing to make contact with his body. As it made contact with the side of his chest, his whole body screamed at him for being a masochist. But just as he fell his body on the verge of flying from the momentum, he planted his feet into the ground, channeled his N.O into them as much as he could and stopped like a rock. The sudden heaviness of the maneuver threw Haruko's own guard and balance down as her arms screamed in pain from the effort of trying to move the suddenly heavy target.

Ignoring his own pain and her glare, he grabbed the guitar as firmly as his free hand allowed and swung his bass towards her head. In desperation she caught it with a bare hand, the action sending waves of pain into it.

Now he had everything in place, but didn't have a concrete way to capitulate on it. He started to panic as he could feel her strength starting to overpower his own.

"So..." she began through gritted teeth. "What's the plan?" she finished with a pained smirk.

"Well..." he started, returning the smirk "Improvising!" and with that he let his N.O channel open as much a she could, a small flash of red light beginning to emanate from his forehead, surprising Haruko.

The he drew his head back and slammed hard into her own head, sending her back. At the same time he sent his N.O into the hand gripping the two headed monster, hopping that something would happen. Sure enough, the guitar started to glow a brilliant crimson and he could feel Atomsk's power coursing through it. A massive gust of wind erupted from the light and he let go of the bass, allowing Haruko to hold it. With both hands gripping the guitar from the side, he pulled, and with a smirk Haruko did the same.

A massive bolt of red lighting erupted into the sky followed by several other small ones and both combatants fell backwards both from the instrument separating and from the force of the bold pushing them away. A few seconds later it died down. They both fell on their back, Haruko clutching the Rickenbacker 4001 in one hand by the side and a Gibson EB-0 by the neck in the other, looking both surprised and amused at the same time.

Groaning as he tried to sit up, Naota eyed the masterpiece in his own hands with a sting of wonder. The Gibson Flying V. Suddenly a laughter erupted from Haruko, not mad, but not exactly sane either. He eyed her for a second, but then as the realization that it worked hit him, he let out a small chuckle.

"Not bad, Naota." she let out between fits of laughter. He couldn't help but let out a big grin at her using, for once, his actual name, and stood up. Still chuckling, Haruko did the same and walked to him as if the previous scuffle never happen, now both guitars strapped on her back in an X shape.

He panned his head slightly up to meet her eyes, a bit tense. He still didn't trusted her. But then with a smirk, she lifted a fist non threatening. Hesitant but returning the smirk, he to lifted a fist and bumped it into hers.

"Not bad at all." she said as they let their arms fall limp. "Your almost as crazy as I am..." she deadpanned.

"No one's as crazy as you." he sharked back.

"And don't you ever forget it." she shot back.

"Trust me, i couldn't if i wanted to." he said as he strapped the Gibson onto his back. "I'm reminded every time i look at that dammed plant." he rubbed one sore arm.

So..." she began in a friendly tone, one she used whenever she was manipulating someone on Earth, but this time it felt a little more genuine...only a little. "What now?"

"Get back home, obviously." he said stretching his arms and back. "Would hate for my lazy bum of a dad to notice I'm gone and start taking his parent status seriously. Doesn't suit him." he deadpanned.

"Heh." Haruko chucked. "Is he still trying to sell those trashy tabloids?" she asked curiously.

"Yup." he answered with closing his eyes and crossing his hands over his chest, shaking his head. "But he's getting a bit better...just a bit. Well i should hurry or Eri's gonna tear me a new one..." he started turning around before he heard Haruko cooing teasingly.

"Ooooo, so you hooked up with that girl who rigged a play to make you her pussy cat?" she emphasized the last two words and let out a shit eating grin. By now Naota was more red than when he fused with Atomsk power. Curse his slip!

"T-that's not it!" he shouted back, but if it was possible Haruko's grin only got even bigger and started to chuckle.

"You know..." She began, but was interrupted by several loud sirens as a number of large flying vehicles looking somewhat blocky and un-aerodynamic shot overhead and started to form a circle.  
"Seems like your little light show attracted some attention." she chimed over the sirens.

Now Haruko was no longer amused and looked positively annoyed.

"HALT!" a voice shouted over a speaker. "You are to lover your weapons and surrender immediately!"

Before he could react, Haruko's Vespa shot out in between them out of nowhere, knocking him onto his butt. She was on it in a split second and with a quick "Have fun!" the yellow vehicle flew up into the air leaving him in a cloud of dust. Several of the vehicles, which he had to assume were some kind of police, gave chase to the much faster "bike".

The only thing that he could do was stare at the shrinking image of Haruko as she left him there to fend for himself...what was he saying, of *course* she did!

"Damn you..." was the only thing he could mutter with a growl, a mix of anger and fear, one eye twitching a bit...

 **To be continued.**

Somewhere else on Vilonis, a hooded man was walking casually through the streets of the continent spanning capita city of the Viloni Empire. Unlike most people around him however, his was not a mere walk. It was reconnaissance, for hit was his mission as an infiltration and assassination agent. He looked over in the distance to the massive towering form of the Assembly Tower, home of the governing council which dictated the fate of billions, thinking of his next target...his imagining of 40 ways to kill him without anyone even suspecting he was murdered was interrupted by a sudden flash in the ambient aura of city. In the distance a barley visible red light shot upwards into the sky. Frowning, his mind raced...it couldn't be...but the aura matched.

A few minutes later he was in his hotel room. Locking the door and closing the shuffles to darken the room, he sat on the floor crossed legged and closed his eyes, meditating. A moment later, his forehead flashed red.

 _Speak_ a voice echoed in his mind, one but also many.  
 _My Lords..._ he began _a few minutes ago a large wave of N.O energy emanated on this planet._

 _Why break silence?_ the voice asked.

 _Because..._ he composed his private thoughts _It was HIS. Atomsk'_

 _Impossible_ the voice protested. _The last sighting of Atmosk had him on Tahnor, nowhere near that sector and we have yet to detect him leaving._

 _And yet the massive presence can only be his._ he answered logically and coldly. _Permission to enact protocol 11?_ he asked.

There was silence for a minute as he knew the question was debated.

 _Proceed_.  
...

Author's note.

Alright, my first ever fanfic about one my favorite anime. So i toke much inspiration from this fanfiction s/8836899/1/FLCL-FTL

I highly recommend reading it, but before you get any idea i am not copying it, i intend to continue this story into a multi chapter long series. This is just the firsts.

So on to myself. Im from Romania so English is my second language, and i notice grammar isn't my strong suit. there's just so much spell checks can assist me with, and im not as fluent as i would like. so i do apologize if i can't word something properly.

This is basically an experiment for me to test my writing abilities for an original space opera im working on, so i thought i would give a try in writing something to get me in shape for it, and this story was in my head for like a year. i just have to write it down.

please review and give me you're honest opinion. here's goes nothing...


	2. The Stranded Boy and The Stranger

**The Stranded Boy and The Stranger.  
**

A lot of strange and horrible things happened to Commander Amaro in his life.

When he was twelve he was accosted by what some neutral observers might mistake for a eccentric woman with a shota complex, and although it was fun at first, well, suffice to say it got bad fast.

After that, he dedicate his life to ensure no one else had their life ruined by the crazy pink haired woman/alien. One of his many regrets was that he couldn't do anything to prevent the kid from having his life blown to pieces by Haruko, although he was pleasantly surprised and ecstatic when he absorbed Atomsk and proceeded to hand her a new one...and horrified as he kissed her...

Well, at least the world didn't burn. That's always a plus, right? And the kid seamed to take it well enough to be left alone. If only he knew!

The little punk somehow curb-stomped five elite agents in a matter of seconds and actually manipulated the damn plant. Sure, it made sense with his abnormally high N.O, but come on!

And then he opened a portal to...somewhere. He felt like he really didn't want to know.

He also felt his teeth grinding to dust at the thought of the can of worms this opened. And all the frigging' paperwork!

His abnormal eyebrow twitched, making several of the personnel stop what they were doing to stare at it for the god knows which time that day. They tended to loose track of time staring at them, but he paid them no attention (and really didn't actually notice anything) and focused on the robot now sprawled on the ground, silent. _Either dead or faking_ he thought. He spared a glance to his lieutenant, the dark skinned blond Kitsurubami, who was glancing at the robot with a slight googly look poking over her professionalism.

 _Dammit, what dose that hunk of junk have that i don't?_

"Well?" he decided to ask to change his mood. "What do you think?" Quickly regaining her composer, she looked at him slightly embarrassed.

"Er...i don't know, sir." she answered honestly after a moment of hesitation.

Frowning a little, he looked back down to Canti then sideways to look over the city, the afternoon sun shining brilliantly and a faint rainbow in the distance. His frown deepened. "What the hell is that kid up to?"

* * *

 **Space Police Headquarters, Vilonis Capital**

So, this day could have gone better, he decided. Thinking of who said that in order for something to get better, first it has to get worse, he also decided that the opposite is painfully true as well. Else he wouldn't be in a small room with no windows and only a door, two chairs and a table, strapped to the chair as if a criminal of death row, for sets of handcuffs and a few straps on his arms just in case.

He once again cursed his luck. After Haruko bolted away, several heavily armed men with intimidation looking body armor exited the crafts and demanded he surrender or be shot dead. Deciding that even if he could take them all out, starting his own personal war with this planet was probably not a smart idea. So he allowed himself to be restrained.

And now after what felt like days, still nothing. He was just dumped here unceremoniously while the authorities, he assumed, debated what to make of him. Interrupting his thoughts and overactive imagination of what they would do to him (up to and including naughty things) the door slide aside and a tall man, easily 6,6, with a long grey overcoat, spiky black hair and eyes, a goatee and mustache to match, entered and threw himself on the chair opposed to him. In one hand he had some kind of device not unlike an ipad, but cooler.

"Human, planet Earth, barley into puberty..." he recited in what could pass as a South African accent, not even stealing one glance at him and continued "and to much power in your hands." with that he locked gaze with him and stared him down for a few moments.

"So..." he began "what is a fine, lower, primitive lifeform such as yourself doing here and why in all that is sane in the galaxy were you picking a fight with a known, violent psychopathy?" he recited with heavy sarcasm dripping on every word, eyes tingling in amusement.

"Well..." Naota started after a moments thought "I was in the neighborhood" he said matching the man's sarcasm. Hell if he would be be left out. "And she had something that belonged to me."

"I see..." the man said thoughtfully "that something wouldn't be an admittedly badass bass guitar, would it?"

"No, it was my space ship" Naota sharked.

Smirking, the man began to scratch the back of his head "Come now, no need to be a smartass" he replied, the irony lost (or intentional) to him. "Just answer my questions properly and you might not, i dunno..."he trailed off "be exiled to the garbage planet of Hereas to be prayed upon by horrible mutants." he added the last part with a cheerful voice. "So, what's it gonna be?"

Realizing he wasn't going to go anywhere if he beat around the bush, Naota decided that he might as well tell him the truth. Not that he was trying to keep a secret, but his life story was to private to tell to a complete stranger. Nonetheless he gave the man the short version, leaving out the more personal details.

"So..." the man started after he finished narrating "She left you here to fend for yourself?"

"Pretty much." he answered flatly.

"Well, as touching the story was, I'm afraid we can't just let you free for now. Sew, my name is Zenolite, and I'm the man in charge of this district. Thus, I'm the guy who decides to let you free or not." he stood up and started to circled table "And when i head that someone was in our custody that fought the infamous Raharu, well i had to see for myself." he finished as he stopped behind Naota. "As impressed as I am, as someone who is strong enough to not get annihilated by Raharu in seconds, we can't let you go..." He said with sympathy, and started to walk towards the door, but the he stopped to look at Naota as he frowned deeply at Zenolite.

"The council of the Galactic Space Police Brotherhood would kill me if i just let you go..." he said, then the door slided and he walked out, leaving Naota alone once again.

* * *

 **Mabase, Japan.**

Today's morning classes at Mabase High were interrupted by something that many in the city really wished to never hear again; the spine chilling sound of the Medical Mechanica plant. Seconds later, the cloud of steam signaled everyone to duck and cover, just in case. However, nothing came. No giant robot, no giant glowing bird thing, no giant nothing.

The incident was now the main talking point of the class during all the breaks. Eri simply stood in her desk and tried to ignore all the gossip and trying hard not to be worried about that idiot who actually went up there. Instead, she was busy reading next class' subject. Her thoughts were interrupted as Gaku and Masaki walked by in conversation.

"Do you think Naota has anything to do with this?" Masaki questioned. "Like the last time all those weird stuff happened?"

"How should i know?" Gaku shot back in his usually exited voice, shrugging. "That lady isn't around anymore so maybe not." he looked down to Eri who was still ignoring them. "What do you think, Ninamori-chan?" still ignored. "Ninamori-chan?" he asked again not getting the clue. At this she sighed and shot an annoyed aside glance.

"Wouldn't surprise me." she said casually. "As long as he doesn't get himself killed, I don't really care." it was true, to. Sure she liked him, but she had plans for her future and would chose them over having to do anything with him. Especially if he was crazy enough to get himself killed chasing some weird woman god knows where. However, she did care and didn't found funerals for a good friend appealing, so a little concern did slip in her voice, and the two boys knew her well enough to pick up on it. They exchanged worried glances before Masaki broke the silence.

"Do you know something we don't?" she cursed herself for the slip.

"Nope." She answered. It was also mostly true. She knew he was there, but had no clue in hell why. The bell ringed and the two boys cast one last glance and moved to their desks, leaving her to herself. Damn idiot...

* * *

 **Vilonis.**

Haruko's day wasn't going as she expected. First Naota came crashing out of her head and provided a good workout for hear, and now the local police were hot on her trail. She knew her rights! She was an officer of the GSPB! Ok, an undercover officer, but still an officer. These idiotic locals didn't knew who they were screwing with. Nonetheless, she had to keep up an appearance and follow her superiors orders (even if she planed to keep Atomsk strength for herself, she still needed them to keep her out of any serious trouble). A police vehicle flew overhead and she ducked back into the alley. She just needed to wait for them to call off these dogs. Maybe even release Naota...nah, he would be fine on his own. He wasn't that dumb.

A few hundred miles away, Naota sneezed hard, followed by another one. He wasn't superstitious, but he could have swore someone was talking shit about him. More than one person, actually. He was still tired from fighting Haruko, he was hungry, thirsty and pissed, so he really didn't appreciate it.

In any case, at least he was no longer in that damp room, though he was being lead to one of those flying space cars.

About an hour after he left, Commander Zenolite returned and informed him that the GSPB council wanted him transferred somewhere else by a ship leaving later that evening. He also asked him, as a "friend" of Haruko, why they also ordered the local forces to cease chasing her. At that, he really was more surprised than he should have been. He thought she was under orders to come to Earth in search for Atomsk, but now it seamed like she was a fugitive of some sorts. Just another one of her deceptions, probably.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, not far from the police station**

He, as a special forces assassin and infiltrator, wasn't the best choice for enacting this mission, though the protocol was there for a reason. He gazed over the massive city, the horizon obscured by its magnificence and glory. It was a shame what was about to happen, but endearing as this place was, it was not his masters, and so it might as well burn. Taking one last deep breath, he concentrated and with a flash of light his instrument manifested, a red Gibson.

He held it before him and marveled at its power, then he heaved it onto his back.

This was the day of reckoning for planet, and so he set forth to do his mission. He spread his arms wide and concentrated again. Another flash of red light...

* * *

Naota sat somewhat comfortably in the back seat of the car as it flew through the air past the impressive skyscrapers. Zenolite was in the passenger seat next to the pilot, and explained to him that the spaceport the ship was in was an hour away by cab.

He decided to break the silence and maybe uncover what the hell was going to happen to him.

"Hey." he called Zenolite, who turned his head slightly to look at him through the bars of the window separating them. "So, why exactly am i detained, anyways? I didn't actually commit any crime...right" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Zenolite only frowned a little and turned to look out of his windows.

"You used an N.O channel." he said matter of fact. "Its outlawed outside of military actions." he explained, sensing some confusion from the boy.

"Why?" Naota asked.

"Did that psycho not tell you anything?" the pilot interjected. "Do you even know what N.O is?" he asked a little more exasperated and mild disgust at his ignorance.

"No, not really." he admitted. "All i found out about it is pretty vague."

"N.O. is brain power, to put a long story short." Zenolite said. "Most people use less than 10% of their brainpower in everyday activities. People with N.O powers use up to 50, even more, to unlock reality warping abilities." he explained. "Enhanced strength, endurance, even opening massive doorways through space or creating objects out of pure energy."

"As to why it's illegal..." he turned around to look him in the eyes with a cold stare "its very simple. One reason: Medical Mechanica. Were at war with them, and they use people with N.O channels to open up invasions. Murder everyone on the planet and then enslave anyone who's left."

"War?" Naota asked a bit shocked. "So...is that why they were building that plant on my planet? preparing for an invasion?" he asked worrying. this did not sound good at all, if Earth was in the path of genocidal aliens, it was cause for concern. Maybe Amaro wasn't rambling paranoid delusions after all.

"Probably. Its what they do to planets who aren't aware of their existence or tactics. Build a plant with promises of riches and glory, secretly scouting out the place, the one day BANG! Global genocide." the pilot responded.

"Its a relay." Zenolite clarified. "It detects people with N.O potential to send MM's armies through. Sometimes they decide to not kill everything and just brainwash the planet, turn it into a factory world for their war machine. Its been going on for two hundred years now."

"Then...all those robots that came out of my head..." now he was getting really worried.

After a quick glance to the pilot, Zenolite responded. "Probably testing out the channel, scouts. But...you dd say they attacked you, right?"

Naota nodded.

"Then my guess is they were there to eliminate Raharu." he answered matter of fact. "She might be a fugitive, but she's no friend of MM."

Naota stayed quiet and tried to process all the information. What if...a sudden pang started to ring out at the back of his head, almost imperceptible but clearly there and growing, like the one two years ago. He looked over to Zenolite to ask something only to see him rubbing his temple. So he to was feeling it. Zenolite turned and made eye contact. This was definitely not just him... the pilot noticed the display and with an distressed voiced began to ask what was going on.

"Something's wrong." Zenolite stated.

"What?" the pilot asked again. His question however was answered when behind them, several miles back, not far from the police station, a massive red lightning pierced the sky.

* * *

When the portal activated, he could sense his entire being surge with power. It was an exhilarating feeling that few would ever feel, and he savored it briefly, as the GSPB would detect the massive power surge following it in just a few moments, and allowed the contents on the other side to pass through.

Out of his forehead, a mass of hundreds of human sized balls flew out at an amazing speed. Once they reached a certain distance they began to fall and hit the ground or the buildings below them, hundreds raining down on the streets with panicking civilians scattering to not be crushed in the impacts. Then, a few seconds after they began to unfurl, their outer metallic shell shell melting and from inside emerged his army, about 200 attack robots designed by Medical Mechanica.

At his mental command, the majority began marching towards the police station who were now scrambling to respond to the sudden invasion. Several others, however, flew up into the air on jet packs and stared to head towards the car Naota and Zenolite were currently riding on.

It toke just a few seconds for the fast moving robots to catch up, one of them shooting a laser at its back, missing only by a hair's breath, causing all three residents to scream "What the hell!?"

"Medical Mechanica." said Zenolite as another robot shot a laser but missed the car, which was now running even faster, its pilot pushing it hard to avoid the death chasing them.

"What!?" Naota screamed as he cached his breath from a particularly nasty turn giving off more G's than he was comfortable with.

"Funny..." said Zenolite "an attack by MM on a major planet like this, just a few hours after you and Raharu have a brawl. Should i put this out as just a funny coincidence?" he asked cheerfully as the car rocked hard when one of the robots cot close enough to hit it. The car started to lose control but the pilot managed to regain it and plunged it downwards to the lower levels of the city in an attempt to lose them, but they were still hot on their trail.

"You think i have anything to do with this?" Naota asked with a scowl.

"Well, these boys" he pointed to a robot which was just two or three meters from the car "seem to really have it out for us in particular, don't they?"

"Ok..." he conceded. "But...what would they want with me?"

"Well, kid, you did say you fused with Atomsk for a few minutes when he manifested on Earth. And that light show you pulled off was really something else. So, and this is only a hypothesis, someone who really wants Atomsk picked it up."

Naota mind was racing now. So Medical Mechanica was after Atomsk' power, that much he knew, and the double guitar just radiated his presence. So he figured that red lightning must have been his power manifesting. Shit.

"Ok...Ok..." he nodded to Zenolite. "Then let me help." he said with determination. "If this is my fault, then let me help fix it."

"And what the hell are you gonna do kid?" the pilot shouted as he once again attempted a high turn maneuver to put some more distance between them and the attackers, but still they were keeping up. Zenolite was only staring at him with a stoic expression, going over their options. Finally, he nodded. "I was gonna let you go either way if the higher ups didn't butt their heads into my jurisdiction." he said finally and pressed a button on a device attached to his wrist and the handcuffs fell of the wrists. "But you'll gonna need your instrument."

"Where is it?" Naota asked rubbing his wrists.

"In the back trunk." he said. "And mine as well."

Naota frowned and narrowed his eyes, then turned around to look at the pursuing robots. Well, he doubted he was going to get out of this alive otherwise, or he did and ended up some lab rat for MM. Might as well.

"Can you keep the car as steady as possible?" he asked the pilot, who didn't respond immediately.

"Why? You plan to sleep or something?" was his sarcastic reply.

"No, im gonna climb out and get my instrument." he answered.

"I'm not sure if you are being a smartass or are serious, but please, be my guest."

Naota nodded and shuffled over to the door, to which the pilot's face grew a bit pale. "You aren't serious!" he barked at him.

"Do you have a better idea, or are you gonna keep this thing steady?" The pilot just shaked his head and then added "Alright."

"Here." Zenolite said and pressed a button on the wrist device, to which there was a click from the door, indicating it was unlocked. The pilot was now struggling to keep a straight course with the robots in hot pursuit. Naota slideed the door back and a gust of cold wind flooded the inside.

"When you reach the trunk, you'll gonna need this." Zenolite called out before he could step outside and handed him a small key. With a final nod, Naota toke it and climbed out.

The car wasn't very smooth, more of a flying Jeep, and he thankfully managed to grab a hard hold onto the side and climb on top of its hood. The cold air was stinging his skin, but the adrenaline was now pushing his body beyond what it was normally capable and even if he didn't have his instrument, his N.O channel was still active and he drew upon its power to drag himself forward and onto the trunk. He looked up and saw that one of the robots was aiming its laser straight at him. Eyes widened he pushed himself forward again just in time for it to miss him.

However now he was dangling from the back of the car at several hundred miles above the ground. He hold on as thigh as his hands allowed him and scanned the back for a keyhole. He found it easily enough and quickly inserted the key into it. His whole body was acing now but he ignored it and turned the key. The trunk opened automatically and, soon enough, there it was, his Gibson V, strapped safely into a form fitting container.

As he grabbed it with his free hand, the car was hit by a laser beam in the engine compartment and lunged violently, and he loosed his grip on his other hand, only holding on to the guitar's neck as the car started to plummet towards the ground fast, trailing dark smoke and the robots on its tail.

He grabbed the neck with both hand and pulled himself down so that his feet were touching the floor of the trunk, channeling his N.O to open wide. With a grunt he pulled hard and the straps break, and momentum toke over as he flew back violently, right in the path one of the pursuing robots. Sensing it, he spun midair and brought the guitar around in a hard swing, catching it by surprise right in the side and causing its entire upper body to shatter violently, parts flying in all directions. A second later it was engulfed in a fireball as its remains auto destructed.

He began to panic as his mind was catching up to the insanity of the situation, now free-falling towards the ground. "Shit, shit, shit!"

But as he saw the now much heavier car slam hard onto the pavement below, he realize that panicking wouldn't serve him right now and forced himself to calm down. Holding tight to the guitar, he positioned his body legs first and channeled his N.O to absorb the impact as well as reinforce his body so it wouldn't shatter every bone in his legs.

Just seconds later he slammed hard into the ground, the force of it creating a small crater, rubble flying in all directions. Thanks to his fast thinking he would walk away, but damn it still stringed his legs like hell. He didn't have time to complain, however, as all the robots chasing him shifted their attention to him. He lunged to the side to avoid the closes robot as it swung one of its arms at him with a long metallic blade protruding from it. Landing hard on his side he rolled out of the way of a laser beam.

The robots, now numbering sex, were moving to form a circle and surround him, but moving to stand fast, he jumped hard into the air and landed behind the one who shot the beam. The robot swung around, blade arm out, but Naota was on him and swung his guitar right at the same time and caught the arm, which shattered on impact. Before the robot could regain its balance, or its buddies getting in the way, Naota swung the guitar again into its side and jumped away before the damage could make it explode, which sure enough it did.

Meanwhile, with a pained groan, Zenolite was starting to come out of the bout of unconsciousness that the heavy impact sent him into. Rubbing his side, he was glad to see that he was mostly intact. However, the pilot wasn't so lucky. While the inertia dampener protected them both from having their brain turn to mush, a single metal shard, maybe from the car, maybe not, penetrated the forward window and lunged itself into his chest, most likely killing him instantly. No ceremony, no pain, just like that. Now he was starting to really get pissed, an angry frown breaking his normally stoic face.

Angrily he unstrapped himself and pushed the door open with a hard metallic shriek. The first thing he notice was that the car was totaled and the smoke was making him dizzy. The second thing he noticed was that in the distance there was the sound of battle, laser beams and even an explosion.

Figuring that must be the kid, quickly moved over to the back to retrieve his instrument, an ebony Gibson Explorer. He quickly removed it from the trunk and started to move out of he smoke cloud and towards the sound of the fighting. As soon as he cleared the smoke, he could see not far that the kid was taking on the mechanical menaces. A pile of burning wreaks and many other scattered remains told him two of the attackers were already gone, leaving only five.

One of the robots spotted him almost immediately and moved to attack, swinging with a blade arm. He ducked and swung the guitar at it, but it blocked it with its arm and positioned its laser cannot to shoot him at point blank. He went down to the ground just in time for the beam to pass over his head and swung the guitar at the robots legs, knocking it off balance. As soon as its guard was down, he swung the guitar again catching it into its chest. Pieces blew out of it as it stumbled backwards and he swung again, this time into its head, smashing it to pieces together with its upper torso. As soon as he ran out of range, it blew up into flames.

Naota was moving as fast a he could, trying to not get incinerated or whatever by the laser beams. The robots were now laying suppressing fire in order to tire him out, not giving him an opening to attack. As he ducked one more beam, the sound of an explosion sounded through the street. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Zenolite moving fast to attack the flank of the group of robots. He caught one of it of guard and slammed it off its feet. Its buddies quickly turned their attention as well, laser beams flying and swords swinging.

The two combatants made brief eye contact and with determination roared back into battle.

* * *

The battle was going in his favor, though only for now. His forces would be overwhelmed soon enough once the military mobilized, and so he needed to use the distraction to his advantage. With his small army keeping the local forces occupied, he figured he had at least half an hour before thing went south, so he willed his N.O to levitate his instrument along with him and roared high into the sky towards his target, several robots following closely behind, following the inescapable aura of Atomsk.

With great effort, Naota and Zenolite managed to gain the upper hand on their attackers by supporting each other and taking on one robot at a time, one distracting its partners while the other toke it out. Now there were only two left, one for each, and they too were dispatched quickly.

"That's the last of them." sighed Naota as the final robot exploded. "What now?"

"Now, we regroup at the station, hopefully the military garrison is already on the move." answered Zenolite. He then brought his arm device and pressed a few buttons, earning some static on his radio. "Randon Station, do you copy? This is commander Zenolite, transmuting code." he pressed a few more buttons and continued. "Need a status update."

A few seconds more of static later and a distorted voice pitched through. "Commander, this is Randon station. We are being overwhelmed."

"What of the local garrison?"

"Last we heard was five minutes ago, the brigade they sent was intercepted by a high number of drones. They won't arrive for a few minutes."

"Damn." cursed Zenolite. Before he could continue, however, the static intensified and the signal was lost, and from the sky a chuckle was heard. At the sudden sound, a presence was made known and the two turned their head upwards to a figure hanging from a levitating instrument, slowly descending.

"Now what?" asked Naota. What else this day would throw his way, he just didn't know.

"By that filthy aura he's giving...:" began Zenolite with a sneer "I'd say hes with Medical Mechanica." he finished and fell back into a stance.

"Now, now, 'm not here to fight you. I'm here for him" retorted the man, nodding towards Naota. "Why don't play with my associates while i discuss business with him." at that, about six more robots descended from the sky, landing in a circle around the trio, and began to move simultaneously to attack Zenolite, who quickly jumped out of the way of a sword, the robots hot on his heals. When Naota tried to move to assist, the man suddenly was in front of him in the blink of an eye, surprising him.

"Didn't i say we have business?" he asked "Its rude to leave like that."

Naota fell into a stance and in a quick dash tried to get him out of the way to help Zenolie, but the strange man quickly pared his blow and gave some swings of his own, which Naota barley managed to avoid. The two combatants were now moving at high speed as Naota tried to hit him and the man simply pared and wasn't even trying.

Meanwhile, Zenolite, overwhelmed six to one, could only try to run and dodge, jumping which ever way would put some distance between them. This however was taking him further and further from the kid, and he really didn't like the idea of leaving him to fend off that man by himself. The aura he was emitting told him he was dangerous, and now he knew for sure the attack was merely a distraction to get to the kid without anyone interfering.

Naota slammed hard into the wall, the force of the momentum leaving a small indentation in the building, and fell top the ground in a heap. As he tried to catch his breath, he could hear the man approaching calmly. He lifted his head and could see him standing there looking somewhat smug, as if looking down on an ant.

"Tell me, how dose a little kid like you get in contact with such a formidable power? How did you came in contact with Atomsk?" he asked with authority. To bad Naota never really liked any authority.

"Screw you." was the only answer.

The man's expression didn't falter in the slightest. In his hand, small wires of red electricity began to crackle, and with a swift movement of his hand a gust of electricity went through his body, and he fell back into a heap, body screaming in pain.

"I ask again. How did you come in contact with Atomsk? Where are you from?" he asked again, this time in a dangerously low voice.

However Naota, body aching and not all that able any longer, was still defiant. "Im not saying anything." He lifted his head to make eye contact. "Why would i tell you? What, you gonna capture him again?" he asked the man mockingly.

At this however, the man's eyes widen slightly and without warning sent another bolt of electricity into his body. In pain, he could only curl up his body, holding tight to the guitar.

"Very few people outside MM knew we captured him in the first place." the man added venomously. _Shit,_ Naota thought, realizing he might have dug his hole even deeper. The man's eye now had a truly murderous intent to them, the red electricity sparkling around his hand was now increasing and surrounding his entire body.

Now very keen on thinking what was in store for him, Naota shut his eyes and waited for the pain to come. He really screwed this one up. He should have stayed home and not pursue that damnable woman. Now people were dying because of him, and he too would follow soon.

Instead of pain, however, a mad laughter echoed through the street. A _familiar_ laugh, followed by a loud noise similar to a machine gun. Oppening his eyes wide, he was greeted with the sight of Haruko flying at high speed on her Vespa blasting at the robots attacking Zenolite with her's bass in-built gun thing. The projectiles passed clean through the robots armor, wreaking havoc and tearing some limbs. Moments later they were engulfed by flames, sending shockwaves into Zenolite, who was now trying to dodge stray bullets instead lasers and swords, knocking him down to the ground.

With another bout of crazy laughter, Haruko landed a short distance from the man, branding a wicket smirk and looking positiveness pissed. Now it was the man's turn to tense as she unsaddled the yellow vehicle.

"Tsk, Tsk, Takun." she mocked "Why do you look as if you are giving up?" she asked with a hint of genuine concern. Her eyes hardened as she toke in the scene, specifically the man. "And what do we have here?" she asked with another mocking voice. "A dog of MM."

At that, the man eyes narrowed. With a sift motion of his free hand, a large bolt of red lighting flew out towards Haruko. Instead of ducking or being overwhelmed by the electricity, Haruko simply lifted her bass in a quick motion to intercept the attack, its power simply being deflected in multiple directions. "How adorable." She began again, her tone even more mocking. "You really shouldn't have messed with my favorite play thing."

With anger growing inside him, the man tried to lunged forward, but before he made one step Haruko was by his side, Atomsk's guitar swinging. He barley managed to sidestep before it impacted his skull, and again sidestepped as she brought her own bass bearing down on him. Again and again, she swung her double arsenal at high speed, not giving him a moment to rest, and he tried to dodge.

As he tried to gather energy for another electric bolt, his periphery vision caught sight of Zenolite sprinting towards his direction, attempting to get a hit in, dodging it with just enough time to leave only a scratch on his arm. With two adversaries, the man was now force completely on the defensive, but he was not over yet. Summoning his N.O portal, he ordered all robot forces to converge on his location.

Naota was now standing up, just barley, his body still aching, tired after the battle with the robots and the shocking by the man. Summoning his N.O, he began to feel his body relaxing as the power surging through him soothed the pain away, enough to feel like joining the frey. As he began to sprint towards the man, revenge fresh in his mind, a blur fell down from the sky just behind him, the shockwave nearly toppling him over. A strong hand caught him and helped him balance. When he looked up, he saw that it was Zenolite, and looking around he now realized that the blur was one of several dozen robots now surrounding them. In seconds they were on them, attacking all three in groups.

With the small army distracting his opponents, the man quickly levitated his instrument and lifted himself in the air, just in time to miss one last swing from Haruko, who was wearing a deep scowl. As he flew high and landed on a building's roof, one which dwarfed most of the other skyscreapers, he looked in the distance and saw several lights approaching fast. The local garrison of soldiers. He summoned his powers to levitate again and flew fast into the opposite direction. He didn't capture the boy and got only some tidbits of information, but it was enough to piece together a picture.

The boy came in contact with Atomsk. He was fairly competent, but still a novice, at using N.O, so he wasn't using it for a long time. And now he knew that Raharu, the women largely responsible for freeing Atomsk from MM's prison, as far as they could tell, knew him. Thinking of where she freed him, he remembered a small, insignificant planet recently discovered by MM not far from their boarders. The place where she freed him, about two years ago. The kid couldn't be training for longer than that, plus she would need an N.O channel besides her own for the procedure to work...the gears in his head turning, he changed course when he was positive no one followed him and landed on the ground, dispersing the instrument back into his channel. He needed to check on his theory, and for that he would need help from someone higher up the chain of command.

* * *

The three combatants were in the middle of an all out brawl as the dozens of robots attacked in groups, trying to overwhelm them. Dodging and swinging their instruments whenever they could, the hoard of robots slowly started to dwindle, and then finally Haruko had enough and pulled the cord on her bass and began emptying the gun it possessed into the crowd of enemies, moving down row after row with a maniacal cackle, to the grim faces of Naota and Zenolite, sitting silently and watching the massacre with wide eyes, wondering if she could have done that sooner...

A noise brought their attention upwards and several vehicles were descending to their position, opening fire on the remaining robots. A few seconds and exploding robots later, the only noise in the wide street was the sound of the descending vehicles and the heavy breathing of the two combatants. Haruko, on the other hand, didn't look much worse for wear and just had a bored look on her face.

Naota, now thoroughly spent, felt like sleeping for a very long time, and so he collapsed and darkness toke over his senses.

* * *

 **Underworld Hideout, Vilonis, later that day**

After wandering through the upper city and making sure he lost anyone who could have follow him, the man descended down a long elevator to the lower levels of the vertical metropolis, the Underworld, where most of the vital infrastructure was located, such as sewer pipes and energy lines, out of sight, as well as the poorer members of society resided. Thus, it was mostly a lawless land, perfect for hiding.

He quickly made his way to a mostly abandoned building where his main hideout was located, a relatively small building compared to the behemoths that gave the city its height. In his room was located a single computer, with access to all the information an infiltrator and employee of Medical Mechanica would need (encrypted, of course, with a self defense mechanism just in case).

At his rank, he would not have enough access to identify what the planet Atomsk was released. Thus, he first went back into a meditation to contact his superiors. A few moments later, he was given the proper clearance. It did not take much searching to locate his information. Just over two years ago, on a backwater planet recently located at the edge of explored space, called Dirt...or Earth, something really stupid, he concluded, highly unimaginative and inaccurate since its surface was mostly water.

In any case, the pieces were in place, and thus he returned to his meditation to contact his superiors.

 _"_ _Report"_ the voices echoed in his mind with authority.

 _Sirs_ he said politely and retorted his findings. After a few minutes of silence, the beings on the other end replied

 _"This boy, how much of Atomsk's power did he come in contact with?"_

The man paused for a few seconds to think _"I am unsure, but it was quite significant to have left such an impression."_

The other beings were again silent while they conversed _"And there was no way to capture him?"_

 _"No, sire. As I said, Raharu was there before i could do much of anything. But if i have your permission, i wish to scout out his planet and try to capture him there."_

Again silence. _"Permission granted. Shall we sent a ship to take you to Earth?" they asked.  
_

 _"That will not be necessary."_ He said _"I shall need to lure him back home anyway, so i might as well do something...flashy."  
_

He grinned at that. He was good at infiltrating, but his real talent was wasted there. He much more preferred to do things the hard way.

 _"I shall need information on any other person with N.O on Earth."_

* * *

Authors note:

Ah, so another chapter done. I really hope the action scenes came out as good as they looked in my head...They kinda looked good in my head. Unfortunately i don't have anyone to ask for opinions, so, seriously, if anyone out there actually reads this shit, please leave a review.

Even a "you fucking suck" is good enough. at least i know i should improve.

So next chapter in the final of the first arc. I'm hopping to have at least five arcs, and will also try to make longer chapters, each 3 chapters so a 15 chapters fic...if I can actually finish this before i get grey hair. Seriously, this chapter toke way longer than i had wanted.

Well see ya next time.


	3. A Bloody Refund

Darkness seamed to dominate the entire world. Up, down, left, right, nothing seamed to have any meaning, yet he was still somewhat aware of them.

A distant light appeared after what seamed like an eternity. A red flicker, close but also far. As he watched it somehow coming closer, the darkness shifted. He was on top of a Medical Mechanica plant, and in the distance he could see a city. His city, Mabasa. Besides him was...another him. Shorter and younger, from two years ago, wearing a long white scarf and an impassive face, staring at Amaro. He could see him talk, pleading not to give Haruko what she wanted, but could not hear his voice. Only a howling wind. A flash or red light overcame the area and he was on the ground, at the base of hill that the plant occupied.

Now he could see himself just after merging with Atomsk. A frenzied battle ensured between him and Haruko, and finally ended when he released Atomsk. A surge of power, unlike anything in the universe, overcame the area, even gravity weakening in its wake. As the swirl of rubble was sucked by Atomsk and he vanished, another red flash overcame his sight.

This time, he wasn't in Mabase. Instead, he was suspended high above a planet, in space, looking down at the lights that dotted the planet's night side. One gathering of said lights he could clearly distinguish as Japan, Tokyo shining brilliantly, and he could even faintly distinguish Mabase somewhere.

"Magnificent" a booming, bass voice echoed through his head. For a moment he stooped to think how something could talk in space, but then he realized he wasn't suffocating. So he settled on it being a dream. Or at least he hopped so. He looked around, but nothing was there except the empty void. He shouted "Who's there?"

Then, the flicker of red light from before shined down from the ground, where he placed Mabase. It shot up into space, right next to him, and stopped abruptly, allowing him to take a good look at it. It was a sphere made out of a strange energy, reminding him of videos of the surface of the sun. Then It slowly unraveled itself into the form of a giant bird creature, a nose ring similar to Haruko's bracelet and a strange symbol on its forehead. Its crimson hue aura dwarfed even the light from the now rising sun.

"Atomsk..." was the only word that could leave his mouth.

Earth, Japan, Mabase. 8.30 PM, local time.

The investigation was wrapping up for Commander Amaro, head of the Department of Interstellar Immigration, the official world appointed body for dealing with alien contact. At least it was in theory, as not many aliens bothered to take them seriously.

In any case, the investigation was wrapping up as a forward base was beginning construction around the inert body of the robot, Canti, who just didn't seamed to budge no matter what they tried. So instead, they were building a temporary building to keep it secure.

As expected, when he interview the people he knew, no one knew anything of the kid's escapades. His dad was no help at all, and didn't even seamed all that worried of his well being. His grandfather just went into a ramble about how he was a looser. His teacher said she hadn't saw him at school in a week.

All in all, it was pretty pointless.

He toke a sip of his coffee and sighed.

Eri sat at her desk and was just finishing up homework for today. Not much of a challenge, but this was Miyaji's, so that should come as a given. She finished with a sigh and closed the books. She could pack in the morning, because now she was just feeling like going to sleep. As she went over to the bed, she gave one last look towards the MM plant, far in the distance. A few lights were shining up in the sky, and a helicopter's warning lights were visible.

With one last sigh, she dropped in the bead heavily, prepared to sleep, and again thought just what the hell was Naota up to.

Unknown

"What the hell is going on!?" Naota shouted as loud as his lungs allowed. At least he thought he did, what with this being some insane dream that felt 100% real. The towering, glowing figure of Atomsk simply floated serenely, its featured betraying no emotion. " _Apologies_." its voice boomed again. " _Maybe invading your dream like this was uncalled for, but for now it will suffice."_

Naota stopped mid rant to look up at the being. "Suffice? Suffice for what!?" he shouted angrily at him. All powerful being or not, he really did not appreciate having his head messed with...again.

Atomsk stood silent for a few seconds, then his body was engulfed by a red flame like aura and his voice echoed " _I am here to warn you_." he said ominously. The whole of space now looked as if it was on fire " _You're planet is in danger, young one_." He finished.

"In danger?" Naota asked, worry beginning to form in his gut. When a god like creature like Atomsk tells you something like that, he really didn't knew how anyone could ignore it.

" _The man you fought on Vilonis._ " Atomsk boomed. " _He has been assigned to go to your world and lay a trap for you."_

"For me? What the hell for?" Naota shouted.

" _You may not have realized, but when you freed me, a portion of my aura was left in you."_ Atomsk informed him _"Medical Mecanica has been on a frenzy trying to corner me and get me back_." he said with a hint of both amusement and contempt. " _Any lead to me is given highest priority."_

"So..." Naota began, a very bad image forming in his mind's eye. One of an army of those robots invading Earth, burning everything to the ground. He continued, worry now turned to horror "They want me to find a way to you?"

" _Yes_ " Atomsk said, massive head bobbing slightly in a nod. " _And they will burn your world to ashes to get what they want_." he continued, voice dripping with contempt. " _But i am here to help."_ At that, the fires burning around ceased. Naota looked at the being, wondering just what he was planing.

Vilonis, meanwhile.

The agent was waiting patiently perched in the middle of the dark room for his masters to respond to his request. He slowly channeled his powers into healing his injuries received from Raharu. As he stood there, a faint red glow started to radiated from his forehead and he could sense his masters presence through the portal.

With no words, he received a small surge of N.O energy unfamiliar to him, and the channel closed abruptly, causing him to open his eyes.

Without hesitation he closed them back and began to concentrate on the new energy, a small grin beginning to form.

Haruko was standing on a chair, looking bored and as usual radiating silliness, but all of the officers knew better. Everyone knew about Raharu, the insane agent which went rogue while searching for Atomsk, the Pirate King and some would argue a god. Her presence here at Randon Station was making everyone nervous, but especially Zenolite, who was standing with arms crossed across the room, eyes shifting from her to the unconscious form of Naota on the bed.

Haruko began to hum a song and it quickly became very annoying, prompting him to snap. "Would you stop that!?" he screamed, drawing a smug smirk from her. She was doing it on purpose, of course. "Why?" she asked in a sickeningly innocent voice, causing him to frown deeper.

"Its annoying." He said turning his head sideways, eying nothing in particular. He really hated just sitting here, doing nothing while that craze MM agent was on the loose on his planet, but he also didn't want to let Raharu out of his sight, so he stuck with her and the kid when he was brought to the station's infirmary. Just because he had orders from really high up to leave her alone, he didn't like the idea of just leaving her alone in one of his stations, and he certainly didn't think anyone could do much to stop her if she wanted to start a fight.

Contemplating, his attention was brought back to her when she asked "So, what are ya gonna do with the kid?"

He scrutinized her wondering why she, or even if she did, care, then turned to Naota. "He shouldn't be here at all. I don't like it, but..." he began, and Haruko cocked an eyebrow at his hesitation, prompting him to continue "The GSPB council ordered me to send him to Krehen." he said finally, a bit sorrowful.

"Krehen?" asked Haruko, a bit of disbelief cracking into her voice. With a frown, she looked at Naota on the bed, and began to wonder just what the hell did the council wanted with him. She hadn't told them about what happened on Earth, but maybe they figured something out by themselves. Maybe they were smarter than she thought. "So you're gonna turn him in, then?" she asked finally.

Zenolite simply stood there for a few moments in silence, then spoke. "Soon as he can travel, I'm putting him on the first ship off Vilonis." he said flatly.

Haruko narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, a gesture he would have missed if he wasn't so focused on what she was doing. Then he added "It's not up to me."

Haruko offered a snort at that and a small smirk before adding "So you're just another puppet." and closing her eyes.

He wasn't sure if he should be insulted or what, as he couldn't quite put his fingers on just what she wanted, but before he could say anything, she continued "Aren't we fighting this war to prevent Medical Mechanica from enslaving the minds of everyone and everything in the galaxy in the first place?" she asked with a serious demeanor that caught him off guard. "You should make up your own damn mind."

His eyes narrowed and frown deepened and he shot back "Despite our cause, we can't just go around ignoring the chain of command."

She snorted again. "Suuure, and the chain of command has such a good track record. Ever thought..." she began, but her words died in her mouth as a strange feeling, a presence, began to permeate the air, almost to faint to be detected. She quickly shot up clutching the instruments at her side, noticing Zenolite was doing so as well. "Did you feel that?" she asked.

"Yeah..." he answered. The presence was growing, but then suddenly it decreased and vanished just as fast as it came. "Its gone. But I recognized the presence." he said venomously.

"Our little MM Dog." she retorted, letting her guard relax. "Just what the heck was he doing now?"

Her question was left hanging as a small groan came from Naota, and the both turn to see him rubbing his eyes, muttering something, sounding as if he was hit by a car. He slowly stood up, and saw the two staring at him. "What?" he asked.

"Morning, lazy." Haruko said casually with a smirk.

Naota frowned and asked "What are you doing here." he then looked around "Where is here?"

"Your in the station infirmary." Zenolite answered, then turned his head slightly to Haruko "As to why she's here, that's what I'd like to know, too." he said, drawing another smirk from her. "Not telling." was her, for the millionth time, rebuttal.

Naota eyed her for a brief second, wondering just what she was planing. Compassion or worry for others weren't things he would describe Haruko with. Nevertheless, he didn't had time to worry about that, not now. With a heave he stood up and grabbed his Gibson. "Whatever." he muttered.

"What do you think your doing?" asked Zenolite.

"I need to get the hell back home." he answered.

Earth, Japan, Mabase. 9.00 PM, local time.

Amaro was just finishing off all the details and was preparing to leave for today. Lieutenant Kitsurubami was already waiting to drive him back to the base, so he began to walk towards he exit. Then he started to feel a bit...strange. His brow twitched, and the feeling was gone.

He turned with a bit of a panic towards the plant. Nothing. He frowned, thinking that maybe he didn't have enough coffee and was just tired, so he began to walk towards the exit again. The gate and the car was in view. Then a migraine began to form, and grow and suddenly his temples were burning and he was clutching his head. He could hear the lieutenant and several other soldiers calling his name as he fell on his knees and he realized just what was happening. Something was prying open his meager N.O channel, trying to push something through that was bigger than what it could handle.

"Back!" he barked, causing all the soldiers who were running to his aid to stop.

Lieutenant Kitsurubami stopped in her tracks and glanced at her superior as he was clutching his head in obvious pain. Then his shades fell off, followed by his noir brows, and a red electric spark flashed on his forehead. Then another, and two more, and suddenly a torrent of red sparks flew in all directions as an intense red light emanated. Then, from the middle the blinding red light, mixed in with Amaro's screams, a dark shaped formed.

A wicked looking man emerged as the light dimmed and landed softly in front of Amaro's twitching body, at his side holding an equally wicked looking guitar. Everyone present drew their weapons and held him in their sight immediately, but no one dared open fire. The evilest smirk toke shape onto the man's face, sending chills down everyone's spine.

Vilonis.  
"So let me get this straight..." Zenolite began in an aggravated one, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Atomsk himself appeared in your dream to warn you of the MM agent heading towards your planet, to lay a trap for you, and you want to head straight back to Earth?" he finished and looked Naota straight in the eyes.

"Yeah." Naota responded flatly.

"Unbelievable..." Zenolite responded back.

Meanwhile Haruko was sitting in her chair looking as if she was holding back her laughter. One one had, she found Naota's new plan to be really hilarious, and on the other she was curios if what he was saying was true. Even if it was, it wouldn't really help her tracking Atomsk down, so for now she was just content with a cheap laugh on Naota's behalf.

"Look kid, I have orders." Zenolite said, motioning his had to Naota. "You were supposed to be on your way to the Council already. Your planet can wait." he stated with no hint of emotion, but truly he wasn't very keen of the idea that Earth was under danger. If it was under danger. The whole Atomsk talked to me in my dream story the kid told them just sounded to far fetched.

"Wait?" Naota said angrily. "No, it can't wait! People are gonna die!" he shouted, his NO field rising slightly for emphasis. Zenolite wasn't impressed at his outburst and simply stared him down.

"I'm sure the Council will send someone to deal with it. You have a ship to catch." Zenolite said.

Naota was beginning to lose patience and was seriously considering fighting his way back, army of police officers or not. He found many things in life pointless, but he sure as hell wouldn't stand by and let others get hurt. Especially not because of him. Gritting his teeth, his hand squeezed on his Gibson's neck tighter and his NO was rising again, but this time it wasn't just for show.

"I'm not going anywhere but Earth." he said in a low voice. Again, Zenolite didn't show any spark of intimidation and simply started to let his own NO field rise to match his, hand moving to his own instrument strapped on his back.

"We'll see about that, kid." He said as tension rose. By now, everyone outside the room could feel something bad brewing.

"Ladies, LADIES, come one!" Haruko's high pitch voice suddenly sliced through the tension like it wasn't even there. Both males turned their heads to the pink haired lunatic that was beaming the largest shit eating grin in the galaxy. "Your both pretty, and as much as I'd just love to see who'd win, a whooole lot by the way, this, and I can't believe I'm saying this, can wait for later." By now, both males were eying her with deep frowns on their face, neither liking that she called them "pretty"...and interfering in their standoff, that too.

"What do you care?" Naota shot back with venom, eyes narrowed.

"Tsk, tsk, Takuun." Haruko answered back shaking her head bemused. "I MAY be a violent psychopath with little to no empathy for others, but I CAN bring myself to care... just a little." she finished, pretending to be insulted. She sat up from her chair and toke a few steps towards him. Both Naota and Zenolite tensed up a little as she stopped just a few feet from the earthling. "And I'm curios if you're telling the truth about your dream." she said in a more serious voice.

"You..." Zenolite began with a hint of disbelief. "you don't actually believe that story do you?"

"Why not?" she shot back flatly, eying him with a frown. "It not the weirdest thing that NO can theoretically do. And he did had direct contact with Atomsk's NO..." she finished setting her eyes down on Naota who stared back defiantly.

Zenolite was quite as he let that thought settle in, wondering about the possibility. "Nevertheless..." he began after a moment "orders are orders. Kid, were leaving in ten min..." he didn't get to finish the sentence as, out of nowhere, Haruko's heavy knee made contact with his stomach, hard, taking his breath away and flinging him across the room and into the wall. He slid down and landed in a heap, hands clutching his pained stomach. Naota was staring at the wide, wicked, menacing grin that was plastered on Haruko's face and did not envy Zenolite in the slightest.

"What the...!?" shouted at Haruko, who just eyed at him smirking.

It was all he could do but stare at her, mouth agape. A pained moan escaped Zenolite as the half conscious man tried to regain his senses, but found that he couldn't. It just didn't make sense, how could one kick drain him, a trained soldier, of all his energy so quickly. His mind was clouded by pain, the other two's conversation but a distant whisper.

"Why'd you do that!?" Naota sked her loudly.

"What?" she asked innocently "You were ready to fight him a minute ago."

"NO, why'd you do that!?" He asked again emphasizing her.

"Simple." she answered back quickly "He wasn't gonna let you go, and I plan on helping you get back to Earth." she said flatly, with no hint of emotion.

"What." was his only word his conscious mind could formulate at that absurd sentence. Haruko, helping. Someone else. Yeah right!

"Yes, I can see you don't believe me." she stated matter of fact.

"Damn right I don't." he shot back in full. "All I know about you says you don't do helping others. Period."

"Your right, I don't." she answered the accusation truthfully and with no hint of shame or regret. "But..." she began, eyes narrowing "I'm curios, like I said. About your...dream. If your as strong as I suspect...to defeat that MM dog. I'm always for knocking MM down a peg." she finished, taking a step back and sending a quick glance at the quivering form of Zenolite. "So I am giving you one time offer, no refund, opportunity for a one way ticket back to Earth!" she proudly and loudly proclaimed, arms stretched wide for emphasis.

Naota eyed her cautiously, not really trusting her. One one side, he was paranoid of her motives. But on the other, desperation allowed for a slim sliver of hope to craw in. While he was thinking weather or not to say fuck it and risk trusting her, he realized that he did not, in fact, had much choice. He needed someone else's NO channel to get back home quickly. Someone willing.

That's when he realized Haruko was eying him with a knowing look, already a step ahead of him. "So you do have intelligence." she mocked his slow thinking. "Yeah kid, you need me."

Mouth pursed, all he could do was curse her silently. He toke a deep breath and let a deep sigh, looking down at his feet. With a determined look he brought his eyes back up to her.

"Alright..." he said, defeated. "But let's hurry, that MM guy is probably on his way to Earth. How's this gonna work, anyways?" he grinned "Do I get to bonk you on the head with my guitar?"

"Ha ha..." she shot back with a matching grin "No, I can automatically connect with the last NO field that used me. Heh, get it?" she laugh at her own double entrade. Naota rolled his eyes. "Oh, and that's dog's probably already on Earth." she added.

"WHAT!?" Naota screamed loudly, eyes wide.

"Yeah, just before you woke up there was a pretty large NO presence. A familiar one. If what you say is true, it was probably him opening a portal." she added the last part nonchalantly. "That was like ten minutes ago."

"And your telling me this only now, WHY!?" Naota fumed, left eye twitching.

"...Ops?" Haruko added with an innocent smile. Naota facepalmed. "Should I open the portal?" she added quickly.

"Yes, please." Naota's slightly muffled voice answered from behind his palm. At that, Haruko brown twitched a little in concentration, eyes taking on her serious look.

"You came here using that's robot's NO, right?" she asked as small red sparks began to form at her forehead.

"Canti, yeah." he answered back. Haruko grinned. The sparks grew and the whole room was cast in a red, eerie glow as the portal shot open.

"Now or never kid! Jump in!" she commanded him. A wide grin plastered on his face, he lunged forward with one hand, touching the portal. The whole room became blinded with crimson light.

Earth, 9:05 PM.

Another soldier fell to the ground, half his bones crushed as if hit by a train, hitting the ground with a sickening thud. His assailant simply stood there, maniacal grin on his face as he toke in another death. Nothing was more enjoyable to him than this. Sure, infiltration was fun, the game of stealth testing his mind and guile, but killing...killing was where it was really at for him.

More bullets flew towards him, but with his heighten senses and superior skills he easily sidestepped and let them hit nothing but empty air. In their own way, these humans were amusing and tenacious, not giving up even after twenty out of the thirty or so soldiers present had fallen, violently. They sill kept coming. With another sidestep, he came in close to yet another human and, faster than the lower life form could blink, he caught him in the head with his bass, enjoying the crunch sound it made with glee.

He could have finished them all off in a minute, but he purposely prolonged the fight, both for his own amusement and to see just what the Earth people were capable of. With a high jump, he avoided another bullet from the brown skinned women with the large gun. He was saving her for last, for so far she seemed better than half the other soldiers combined.

Kitsurubami toke careful aim at the now flying man with her oversized sniper rifle and toke another shot. This one too missed as he pushed himself down, straight into another soldier. Another fell quickly after, and another.

Aiming again, she pulled the trigger, hopping that her last bullet was a lucky one. Instead, it was the opposite. The man grew bored, so he decided to play with her a little. With a perfectly synchronized blow, he deflected the heavy caliber projectile with his bass, sending it flying straight into the last mook, flying right through the other side.

Kitsurubami could do nothing but gape as the man landed heavily just a few feet from her, kicking her backwards with the shockwave. Landing on her back, she quickly composed herself, threw the sniper aside and pulled out a gun from its holster, toke aim and fired three shots in quick succession in less than two seconds. Unfortunately, it was not enough, the man quickly paring and deflecting the shots away, the third bullet flying straight back at her and into her solder. Gasping in pain, the gun slipped from her hands and she quickly pressed her hand to the wound.

Looking up, she saw the man now looming over her, a dangerous smirk plastered on his face as he was thinking of fun way of ending her. Small red sparks began to form in his right hand. He was going to enjoy this...

Suddenly, a rush of air flew by and he shot his attention to Amaro, who, despite the tremendous pain in his head, managed to lift himself up long enough to take out a gun and attempt to join the fray. Unfortunately, his throbbing headache wasn't helping his accuracy, the agent not even bothering to duck or deflect the bullets. He thought it was funny. With one last missed shot, Amaro collapsed back on his knees, holding himself up with one hand.

"Is this the best your pitiful planet can do?" the man sneered at them with contempt. "At this rate, I'll take over your puny planet for Medical Mechanica in a month!"At the mention of Medical Mechanica, Amaro's face contorted in fear. All of his worse nightmares were realizing right in front of his face. Only it wasn't Raharu who would deliver his world straight to Medical Mechanica, it would be this lunatic.

"Well, game over. Time to die." Red sparks once again engulfed his right hand, but this time much more intense. He stretched his arm forward, planing on finishing the girl first. As the air was filled with the sound of static, a tall, fast moving figure stepped right besides him and with force grabbed his hand and squeezed. Roaring at the sudden pain, the man sneered as Canti simply tossed him with all his might into the MM plant.

Amaro's eyes shot wide open, while Kitsurubami's were filled with hearths at her metallic savior. Picking himself up, the agent cursed himself for letting his guard down and getting tossed like a rag doll. Eying his opponent, he recognized the robot from the reports of Earth as the first drone sent to test MM's control of Atomsk's power. It was an advance model, powerful and quite intelligent. And it had obviously gone rogue. Fortunately for him, it also meant that without Atomsk the drone would be relatively easy to defeat, since its design was reliant on an outside energy source. Without it, it wasn't much.

Canti gave one look to Amaro and the word "Run" flashed across his screen in bold, red kanji. Both he and Kitsurubami got the message and nodded vigorously. Canti turned to face the agent.

The two shot forward with tremendous speed, so fast Amaro and Kitsurubami, who were now attempting to scramble away from, could only see a blur and then were knocked to the ground as the shockwave from their impact. A small crater formed where they were standing, and were now trading blow after blow, Canti with his bare fists and the agent with his bass.

As they swung and sidestep each other repeatedly, it was becoming evident very fast that Canti was losing the upper hand, the man simply being faster and his NO hitting harder. Taking to the air, Canti began to use all four of his limbs, kicking with everything he got, but the man was just a step ahead and landed more hits on Canti than the robot on him. With a flash step behind Canti, he caught the robot with a hard swing of his bass straight into his back, sending him flying into the dirt.

A cloud of dirt rose from the impact, and when it cleared Amaro could see the robot  
laying motionless in a crater, the man just floating above letting out a maniacal cackle.

"He He He He He, that was easier than I thought! Whelp.." he began as he rose his right arm, red sparks again taking form "Party's over!" he shouted as he began to gain altitude.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Amaro cursed, his migraine subsiding, but that wasn't doing much to his mood. "Were so fucked! If I was a religions man, this is where I'd start praying for a fucking miracle..."

The lighting in the agent's hand coalesced into a ball, and the man fired. Unlike with Naota, however, this wasn't just some shock attack. Instead, a single red bold shot forward, a bold of destruction meant to not just destroy the traitorous drone but also announce to the planet his intentions. And nothing screamed that better than a giant, smoldering crater where a city once lay. He couldn't wait to see the fireworks!

But his hopes were short lived as, just a split second after shooting, he sensed something from the robot. A red light, followed by bolts of red lighting, erupted from the robots screen just milliseconds before his bold hit, an invisible force warping space itself and the bold was deflected upwards, away from the city and into space. Shielding his eyes from the blinding light, he gritted his teeth in frustration, but soon after the light subsided he was presented with a most endearing sight that made his mood improve.

Naota stood up from his crouching position from where he landed, the dust cloud that the portal created obscuring most of his vision. But he didn't need eyes to quickly take in his surroundings. He could detect two weak auras not far away, lying in the ground, and another, much, much stronger, floating some 50 meters high in the air. Lastly he sensed his trusty robot sidekick lying behind him in a crater.

"Sorry I'm late, Canti." he apologized to the loyal robot with a glance. Concern and anger shot through his body as he saw the automaton's state. Dirty, some cracks in his armor, even some hanging wires. Eyes narrowed dangerously, he glanced over to the other two figures in the dirt, the dust settling enough for him to make out Amaro and his lieutenant, both looking quite worse for wear.

For a second he and Amaro locked eyes, and the commander could feel the boy's intentions and determination, and the guitar in his left hand was enough to tell him that he wasn't just a pushover, easily manipulated kid anymore. The silent rage behind his gaze told Amaro that this battle just got real.

Naota broke the gaze with Amaro and turned his attention to a small chuckle coming from up high. The MM agent was levitating slowly down to the ground, looking quite amused. He landed with almost no sound on the ground. "Well, Well, look here." he began with a grin.

"I was quite sure I would have to lever a few of your cities and broadcast their demise across the galaxy before you'd show up. Guess your...easy! HA HA HA!" he laughed. Naota concluded that he hated him even more, but remained silent.

The man continued to cackle for a few moments and stopped, continuing to eye him with a bemused expression, obviously concluding that his job just got a whole lot easier. A heavy silence toke over, the only sound was Canti screeching a little as he tried to get up. Naota shot the robot a quick side glance.

"Canti" he began, voice flat and emotionless "if you can, get those two out of here." he said motioning to Amaro and Kitsurubami. "Amaro..." he made eye contact with the commander again "if you have any reinforcements coming up, get them to stay away. Its gonna get ugly here." he finished throwing a venomous glare at the agent, who's grin got even bigger.

"Oh, what's this?" he started, "last time you lasted about ten seconds, now you plan on winning! HA!" another short cackle filled the air as Canti made his way to the two DIE agents and helped them to their feet. "Oh, don't go." he told them "Its more fun with an audience." Once again he turned his full attention to Naota and with another cackle began to channel lighting again, but not nearly as strong as before. "We want you alive, but since you decided to play hero, little boy, I have no choice but to hurt you. However you got here so fast, you should have stayed away." he explained, and with a forward motion of his hand the lighting show to Naota. But this time, the teenager didn't even flinch as he blocked all of it with his Gibson in an exact mirror of what Haruko did on Vilonis.

It was Naota's turn to grin widely as a shocked expression toke over the man's face. Both Amaro and Kitsurubami, who by now were just outside the gate, looked out in awe and disbelief.

"H-How did he..." was all Amaro could muster to say. "Atomsk is gone, so where did he get that kind of power..."

"That's what I'd like to know..." the man muttered dangerously. "Just a few hours ago you couldn't do shit to my much weaker attack." he told Naota "What, were you holding back?"

Naota refused to indulge his curiosity and remained silent, which angered the man even more and he promptly dashed forward at a dangerous speed, swinging hard towards Naota's right side. But all he hit was empty air, as Naota simply jumped high and landed a split second later in the place the man was standing previously, grinning like a madman. Seeing the smug look on the boy's face, the man dashed again, but was met with the exact same result. For some reason Naota was moving faster than he could react, and that simple fact was just maddening, so he tried again, and again, and again, each time loosing more and more of his composer.

"They say the definition of madness is trying to do the same thing over and over again, expecting different results." Naota mocked him as he tried to calm his nerves enough to think of a strategy.

"How?" he asked "Your ten times faster than this morning!"

Deciding he toyed enough with the man, Naota decided to spill the beans. "Because..." he began, allowing his NO wide open, all of his power and something more flushing out like a cascade. A gush of wind erupted from him, a dim but growing buzzing sound emanating with it. "This morning I was fighting all by myself..." a faint crimson aura began to engulf him, small pebbles around him began to shake and some even started floating and then disintegrating under whatever invisible force picked them up. "Now, I have some help."

Earlier that day.

"Help?" Naota said a bit skeptically, eying the god like being with suspicion.

" _I understand your reservation_ " Atomsk boomed. " _Your thoughts betray you, and my reputation preceded me_." he clarified. Naota looked horrified.

"Hey, don't read my god damn thoughts!" he warned the pirate, who let out a bemused chuckle at the human.

" _Fair is fair_." he said. " _Now, we should hurry, for we are short on time_."

"Hurry with what?" Naota asked cocking an eyebrow.

" _This_ " The Pirate answered, his fiery aura expanding again and engulfing Naota in it, making him flinch in reflex, but no harm came to him. Instead, the fire was dancing across his skin, and he could feel his NO fluctuating. After a minute the fire dissipated, and Naota was left standing there in the void, looking his astral body over for injury. But instead of pain, he found himself felling strange...

"...What is this?" he questioned. "I don't feel all that different, but..."

" _I have placed a small portion of my powers in you to permanently increase your N.O potential_." the god-like being answered as Naota looked back up to the Pirate King " _It'll boost your abilities significantly, making you even stronger, faster. But do not let it carry you away, young human_." the Pirate said.

"Carry me away?"

" _While you are more powerful for it, what I have done is simply boost your raw potential, but it is not a replacement for skill and experience_." Atomsk replied. Naota looked to the being in contemplation, letting his words sink in. He broke the silence after a moment.

"Is it enough to put down that guy from before?" he asked seriously. Atomsk stayed silent for a second before answering.

" _Maybe_."

"Good enough." Naota said flatly. "Can I go now?" he asked. Atomsk chucked at his impatience.

" _Yes. But before you go, remember_..." he started, eyes transfixed on the boy and staring right into his soul " _In you I have placed a small part of me. In times of need, you may bring it out and achieve an even larger boost, but at a cost_."

"What cost?" asked Naota.

 _"That is something I do not know. I have never done it before, so take grate care._

"Wait a second..." Naota started a bit panicked.

 _"Fare thee well, Naota Nandaba, and remember my words."_

With that, Atomsk' fiery aura flickered once again, with the Pirate king folding his massive body back into a ball, which began to shine brighter than ever before and in a second shot out into space at a dazzling speed. Naota could wonder at the sight for just a second before the entire universe collapsed around him.

The wind kicked up a massive dust cloud, obscuring the entire area. He could make out the red glow even in the haze, and as the dust began to settled Noata Nadaba stood there surrounded by a red aura that was humming with power, a serious look on his frowning face as the aura dissipated. The man forced himself to regain his composure, refusing to be intimidated by a lower lifeform. His own face twisted in race. A soft red aura began to form around him as well before vanishing.

"Well see what good that dose for you." he sneered.

Both combatants held their instruments tightly, ready to pound the other into oblivion. At almost the same time, they dashed forward in a blur of motion, their swinging instruments colliding in the middle with such earth shattering force that neither could resist the shockwave that followed. They both flew back as a crater erupted from the point of impact, the dust cloud rising high into the air.

From their spot outside the MM plant fence, Amaro and his lieutenant were pushed down to the ground by Canti as the first shockwave hit. The sound was deafening and they picked themselves up and tried to clear the dust cloud to breath. Amaro's gaze fell on the city, hundreds of lights flickering on as the sound broke glass and caused cars alarms to activate. Another shockwave hit and they found themselves on the ground again.

Not wasting any second, both were back on the offensive as soon as they halted from being thrown back, pushing themselves into the air towards the other, colliding in midair with another bang and another shockwave which cleared the dust away and again being pushed away. Naota summoned his NO to push him forward, halting just short of hitting the ground with force. He found himself floating there and a small smirk formed on his lips. "Heh, I was wondering if I could fly like Haruko." his thoughts were interrupted as his attention was drawn to the man across the yard, glaring daggers at him.

The red flickers in the agents right hand caused him to quickly put the guitar up, just in time to block his red lighting. The sound of the man dashing into the air caught his ears and he brought the Gibson into an upwards swing, blocking the agents heavy downward swing. This caused Naota to be pushed down on the ground with such force that a small crater formed beneath him. With a powerful push the man flew back into the air and Naota was on him in a moment, the two locked into a fast pace duel, back and forth as they swung their instruments.

Amaro and Kitsurubami barley got down to the base of the hill with the help of Canti, and while his head was feeling marginally better, his composure and image did not. Somewhere bewteen the mm agent and getting out of dodge of the two battling in the air his noir eyebrows got lost and now he was seconds from crying. With a glance at his lieutenant, he realized she wasn't doing much better, the pain and blood loss making her skin somewhat pale. He was ready to break down when the sound of cars caught his attention. Five jeeps bearing the BIE logo were pulling up right down the road in front of him and from them several armed agents rushed out and made a half circle, guns pinted in his direction.

Or more specifically in Canti's directions, who was hrling both him and Kitsurubami stand up.

"Wait! Lower your guns!" he ordered with a shaky voice, mustering confidence and authority despite his current condition. The agents looked at one another confused, then at him. Amaro let a sideways glance at the robot who in turn looked down at him. "Hes on our side." he said after a few seconds. "Now get a medic for my lieutenant!" he shouted at the agents who quickly carried Kitsurubami to the closest jeep, where one of them began to give her first aid.

Canti helped Amaro sit down in the back of the jeep. "Sir." one of the agents began "What about..." he said with a quick glance at the MM plant, above which a series of sparks and loud booms could be seen.

"Stand down." Amaro ordered quickly, drawing the agent's attention. "You'll just get in the way." he explained just before another massive shockwave erupted, making the standing agents duck for cover as dust and some debris flew past.

Naota and the Agent were locked in a struggle as to whom could last longer against massive forces, both pushing forward against one anothers instruments, their NO fields acting like magnets with the same pole, red sparks and a howling wind erupting from the point of contact. Just a few seconds later an explosion erupted and pushed them backwards and both toke the opportunity to catch their breath.

"I admit, I am impressed." the agents said in between heavy breaths. "You have a huge potential, even some decent skill..." he began as he toke a fighting stance once more "but I have experience and endurance from dozens of battles. This next attack, I will bring you down." A red aura began to surround him once more, this time with more fire and fury that ever before.

A gale of wind blew away all the dust and knocked their crowd of onlookers at the base of the hill off their feet, even some of the multi-tones cars began to slide slightly. Red lighting swirled around him, threatening to incinerate anything it touched. While the crowd looked out in terror and awe at the spectacle, Naota stood his ground and his composure, ready to meet the Agent's best with his own.

"Well I'll just have to improvise, then." Naota replied, his own red aura again taking shape along with a small smirk. He could feel the power that Atomsk left him rising up, a grate battle lust taking shape in his soul. Clenching his fists around the Gibson, he opened his NO wide and allowed the power to flow out. A grate, fiery aura erupted around him, pushing the man backwards with force and his own aura dissipating when it made contact with Naota's, leaving him staring back in shock as the aura engulfed Naota entirely, a large column of fire erupting into the air, briefly turning night into day.

As the fire dimmed, Naota emerged from the center unharmed, the fire like aura dancing around him like the first time he allowed Atomsk's power boost out. However, this time a glowing red symbol was etched into his forehead, a symbol the Agent instantly recognized and his face paled.

"T-That's...that's...Atomsk's sigil...the Brand of the Pirate King! How..what is this!?" Naota didn't reply to his question and simply stood in a fighting stance with a stoic expression, taunting him to attack first. The man brought his aura out again.

"I asked what is this!" Again nothing. He gritted his teeth and began to squeeze all of his potential strength out, trying to intimidate the boy but still drawing nothing.

"You insolent brat!" he screamed out and dashed forward in a flash of red, out of view of the crowd below in mere milliseconds, all of his power concentrated in one swing of his instrument, ready to put down the insect that was daring to give him the silent treatment. He was going to kill him, orders be damned. Naota didn't move so much as to blink, giving him the perfect target. However, just inches from making contact with the boy, a twisted grin suddenly made its way to Naora's face and it was to late for him to pull back, the momentum to grate to stop even though at that moment he realized he was finished.

Naota's aura erupted with red lighting as the instrument collided with it, a shockwave shooting out and again making the crowd bellow duck and cover. The man's arms howled with pain before the showckwave pushed him away and it took all his remaining strength to avoid splashing against the surface of the plant. Before he could even catch his breath, however, Naota was right besides him, faster than he could follow, already swinging in his direction.

He tried to block. As his instrument made contact with Naota's, it shattered into a thousand pieces, scattering in all directions before Naota's Gibson caught him in the side with the force of a speeding train, sending him sprawling straight into the plant, cracking and bending its surface where he impacted. The man then collapsed hard into the ground with a heavy thud forming a small crater.

Naota slowly floated down to the ground, the grim look on his face made way for his usual frown as the aura slowly dissipated together with Atomsk's symbol before he landed softly. From the heap in his crater, the man was groaning in pain and coughing blood attempted to stand up, but found that he had so many broken bones that he couldn't even turn his head. But that wasn't his worse injury.

The proven pieces of his instrument lay spread across the courtyard, some sizzling with small red lighting before they were quite. The man was a small piece of the instrumenst's neck lying by his side and let out a pained scream.

"You...you broke my instrument..." he said with obvious horror in his voice before another coughing fit silenced him and his eyes rolled back and he fell into unconsciousness.

Naota let out a deep breath he was holding, sweat dropping down his face, his own body's pain starting to make him feel like joining the man, but he figured he still had some business to take care of in the form of Amaro and probably the entire government of Japan. He could hear several cars speeding up the road and sure enough the five jeeps pulled up into the courtyard and stopped, Canti landing softly besides him soon after. Still drawing heavy breaths, Naota looked up at his friend who was "eying" him with concern and forced a small smirk before noticing Amaro, new pair of eyebrows in place, standing in front of him, together with several other black suite agents which quickly moved over to the MM man to secure him.

He made eye contact with the man and let out a sigh before holding his instrument with both hands and holding in in front of the commander. The older man toke the hint and eyed him curiously before he cautiously grabbed a hold of the guitar by the neck and Naota let go and put his hands in his pocket.

"I wouldn't need it anyways to escape from you." he answered his unasked question. Amaro eyed him before nodding and holding the guitar to one of his agents.

"Just get in the car, kid, before something else happens."

Bureau of Interstellar Emigration, 04:30.

"Yes sir, I understand, but its up to him and there wouldn't be much we could do if he dosen't want to." Amaro answered politely for the tenth time to his superior, wanting to scream at the idiot for not understanding that the kid surrendered to them and was perfectly capable of leaving whenever he damned well pleased. He sat in his office, bruised and aching, trying to placate the International Council in charge of his agency. So far he managed to secure a promising deal for the kid's well being, but he wasn't sure he quite agreed with it. However, he was out of options.

"Yes sir. Goodbye sir." once he heard the click at the other end slammed the phone back into its receptacle and toke out a cigar before massaging his headache that returned in force. A knock at the door brought his attention forward as lt Kitsurubami entered the room, one hand in a strap and the other holding some documents.

"Sir." she saluted before moving forward and placing the documents on his desk. "Last damage reports from around Mabasa that you asked for." Amaro only nodded in confirmation. "Did you..." she began to ask but stopped herself at Amaro's glare. He blew some smoke and slowly picked himself up.

"I did." he said simply. "Now we just have to hope the kid's sensible enough to take the deal, else he'll end up who knows where..." he said as he began to walk out the office. "or worse, says no and goes all glowy on us."

The only sound in the room was the infuriating ticking of the clock on the wall driving him mad, which he supposed was the point. Naota found himself standing in a bland interrogation room for the second time in twenty four hours, and he couldn't say he was growing any fonder of them. He just hopped Amaro and his lackeys finished whatever they were doing and either let him leave and put him in jail, either way he just wanted a bed right now. After the battle with that MM agent and using that power, Naota felt like a rock. He wasn't sure if it was one of the side effect Atomsk warned him about or what, but he could also feel...something, deep inside him. A need for more, a thirst, but for what he couldn't tell, he just knew that it wasn't himself that wanted it.

His thoughts were interrupter by Amaro entering the room and closing the door with a little more force than necessary before setting himself in the chair opposite of him and throwing a set of documents in front of him on the desk, followed by a pen. A silence sett in the room and Naota eyed them curiously for a second with a cocked eyebrow before looking at Amaro with a pleading expression.

"Your release papers." Amaro answered. "You might want to read them." he said taking another cigar and lighting it, much to Naota's annoyed expression. Nonetheless, Naota complied and opened the first paper and began reading. After a few minutes of reading, Naota felt like laughing, but his body was to tired for that, so instead he just shot Amaro a look.

"Your joking..." he said.

"No." Amaro answered flatly.

"You want me to...work for you?" Naota questioned him with a bemused tone.

"Not in an official manner." Amaro began explaining after another smoke. "Firstly, your a minor, so we can't hire you. Then your also a criminal, after breaking into government property." he made sure to emphasize the last part, drawing a smirk from Naota that made his eye twitch. "And after the stunt you pulled doing so, well lets just say people in the BIE and other agencies don't see you as friendly at the moment." he began again before leaning in, his voice lower "Seriously kid, what were you thinking?"

"I wanted back what was mine. I think you understand." Naota answered back immediately.

Amaro leaned back into his chair and drew another puff before blowing out the smoke. "Yeah, I do." he said a bit solemnly. "Anyways..." he began as he put out out the cigar in the ashtray "You might have gotten away with six months of some juvenile detention if it was just that, but after your little light show with that Medical Mechanica guy..." he toke off his glasses and stared directly into his eyes "Some people wanted you shot to be sure you wouldn't turn on us next time. Speaking of..." he crossed his arms "where the hell did you got that kind of power? Did you fuse with Atomsk again, somehow?"

Naota stared at him for a few seconds, deciding if he should tell him. Finally he spoke "Not quite, but something like that. I think...Anyway, back to that..." he motioned to the papers.

"Its the best I could do. You "work" for us as a..." he paused looking for the word "independent contractor of sorts, I guess. You'll get called in to take care of stuff like that guy or any robots that show up again, and you get paid and don't have to disappear into some lab as someone's experiment." he finished and put his sunglasses back on. "Or you could get violent with us, which I strongly advise against for my own health...We even convinced your dad to sign." he finished motioning to the papers. Naota cocked an eyebrow and picked the papers up and turned them to the last page, where sure enough his father's signature was scribbled. He frowned a little and realized that, judging by the way he rote it, he was probably not sober. Big surprise.

"Was he even sober when he signed?" he asked just to be sure.

"...mostly." Amaro answered after a small pause. "Right now, were looking the other way."

Naota let out a sigh and looked at Amaro again, another though tensing his body a little "What about Canti?"

The commander just gave him a genuine smile "He'll go free with you. I convinced my superiors that it would be a good idea to keep you happy." Naota relaxed and stared down at the papers and the pen that Amaro borough. He let his thoughts wander at the circumstances that led him here. Amaro was quite forthcoming with the fact that people with power were afraid of him, and he didn't blame them. To be honest with himself, Naota didn't thought it through what he would do after getting his Gibson back. He just knew he wanted it back, and now he was here. And it wasn't as if he had any plans for the future anyways.

He picked up the pen and scribbled a signature on the last dotted line.

Epilogue.

6:00  
A black came to a stop right in front of the bread store and a second later Naota climbed out of the back seat just in time to see Canti land not far from him. With a quick glance from Amaro in the front passages seat, the car was off. Naota watched the car as it turned a corner before heading inside. Not surprised at all to see his father, Kamon, snoring in the couch with the TV open. His grandfather was nowhere to be seen, probably also sleeping, so Naota quickly made his way to his room, ready to sleep for the rest of the day. He forgot, however, to turn off the alarm clock, so when the damn thing rang he decided to sleep at his favorite place in the city near the bridge he would hang out with Mamimi years ago.

Naota was sleeping soundly in the grass, finally, dreaming of nothing in particular. However, his well deserved rest was interrupted by a shadow suddenly looming over him and a high pitch voice.

"Naota!" at the sound of his voice, Naota shoot up straight, momentary confused. Then he looked up, at the glare of Ninamori Eri. She had that "you're in trouble" look on her face, and he remembered last morning. Shit, I forgot I said I'll see her in class. Now's she looks pissed... he thought.

"Oh, err.." he stuttered, trying to thing of the best thing to say that wouldn't make her blow a fuse. He didn't have the motivation right now to start a shouting war, he was still aching. "Hi, Ninamori...shouldn't you be at school?" at that her frown deepened slightly. Oh boy.

"School's over. And that's my line." she answered, crossing her arms. "So, care to tell me where the hell have you been?"

"Oh, well..." he started, scratching the back of his head, but she interrupted him.

"And while you're at it, would you care to also tell me what was that whole debacle last night? I know it had something to do with you." she said narrowing her eyes at him, but he didn't flinch. For a minute he didn't say anything, trying to collect his thoughts. Then it occurred to him that he may owned her an explanation considering that she sounded genuinely concerned. So he stood up and looked her straight in the eyes with a smirk that only widen when he noticed she was slightly red.

"You really wanna know?" he asked with a bemused tone. She looked at him for a second and answered back with a similar tone.

"Sure."

Location Unknown.

The only sounds that he was aware of was the irregular beating of his hearth alongside the beeping of a machine and the dripping of an IV. He couldn't feel his entire lower body and the other half was pumped full of painkillers, otherwise he swore the pain would be to grate to endure. But that was not his grates pains, for that was reserved for his pride. Him, defeated by a mere human. Worse, now he was these insect's prisoner and it didn't look as if he would be getting well enough to escape anytime soon. Not that it would matter, seeing as the brat destroyed his instrument.

He could use NO without it, sure, but it wouldn't be nearly enough to fight off the probable army that the humans would send on his trail. Right now, he wished the kid would have just killed him to spare him the humiliation. It was bad enough that he was their prisoner and was still alive to feel this horrible, but he also failed his Masters, who didn't take kindly to failures. This planet was soon to be in their war path in a couple of years, and he would be found, and then he would know real pain.

He needed to get out, or find a way to placate the Masters. As if on cue, a sound drew his attention to the right, though he couldn't turn his head to look. He could hear some muttering and the sound of the soldiers guarding him moving away, and from his peripheral vision a fine dress man with a well trimmed white beard and matching mustache came into view, accompanied by two men wearing white lab coats. He narrowed his eyes at the man's features and fake smile. He knew that devious, scheming kook, he had to assassinate a few people like him in his days, but still he had to be thankful for the opportunity. This man looked like exactly the kind of ally he wanted.

"Hello, my friend." the man said in a strange accent he never heard before, smile still in place. "My name is Eric Navel, and I have a proposition for you."

The Agent forced a week smile in return. He always liked ambition, it was his favorite string to manipulate.

To be continued.

So yeah, anyone reading this? Probably not, but just in case. so i hopped to write a whole lot more, but got sidetracked by life stuff. so, here i am almost a year later. well, hopefully now that i have some time i can finish this. maybe... hopefully ill post the next three chapters by the end of the year, then move on with my next project. here's hopping.

Hope anyone who actually reads this enjoys.


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